Coventry Bears suffered a double defeat in the Cooperative Rugby League Conference Grand Finals in Derby on Sunday.
The Bears ladies playing in their second consecutive final lost out to favourites Bradford Thunderbirds by 8 points to 44.
The ladies played well for the first 40 minutes but the experience of Bradford who have gone two years without a defeat eventually told.
In the Harry Jepson Final the Bears men also lost out to West London Sharks.
The Bears opened the scoring when winger Tanaka Chamunokara raced on to an upfield kick on the last tackle. He was caught just before the line but his momentum carried him over to score in the corner.
The Bears were guilty of some poor handling and could have scored twice more before the break but were denied when close to the try line.
Just before half time West London scored two tries in as many minutes to take them into the interval leading 4 points to 10.
The opening part of second half was again hard fought. The Sharks extended their lead to 4-14 after 50 minutes.
Ten Minutes later Bears Loose Forward Matt Cooper broke through the West London defence and scored under the posts with Nathan Tillsely adding the conversion the Sharks led by just 4 points.
Coventry conceded two further tries as the sin binning of player coach Alan Robinson and a string of injuries started to take their toll.
The Bears were still pushing on and Tanaka Chamunokara scored a second try but the final whistle came immediately after.
Final Score
Coventry Bears 14 West London Sharks 24.
Womens coach Michelle Umaga was upbeat about her girls performance.
“We lost to Bradford by 60 odd points in earlier in the season but today we pushed them hard for the first half of the game. We get better as we play and todays result will only serve to spur us on to match the best teams in the North”
Coventry Bears Chairman Ron Banks said
“We can be proud of our achievements this year, we lost a lot of last years team and have had to rebuild. We thought that this year would be a period of consolidation so to make the final was an enexpected and pleasant bonus.
The fact that we managed to get two teams to the Grand Finals is a testament to our coaches and both Michelle Umaga and Alan Robinson should be proud of what the players have done to achieve this.”
Mens Photo Gallery from game
http://www.e4creative.co.uk/photogallery/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10043
Womens Photo Gallery from game
http://www.e4creative.co.uk/photogallery/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10042
