Coventry Bears

Coventry Bears ladies will be taking on the might of the north again this weekend when they host Bradford Thunderbirds. This is going to be an interesting contest between the two in form teams. Bradford are sitting top of the national conference table and Coventry are third behind West London Sharks who they face next weekend away. The Bears ladies are having a strange year with lots of girls still struggling with injuries and are just starting to get back into shape. The Bears will be without in form player Stacey Tolley this Saturday as she is unavailable. Tolley has been selected for the England National train on squad. The Bears welcome back experienced forward Sheena Larkin to take her place and in the backs Helen Price returns in her normal full back role. Rhiannon Watkins another player in form will be back in her favoured second row position and will be hoping to display all her class this weekend.
Ladies coach Michelle Umaga is really looking forward to this game as she used to play against Bradford when she was playing up north. Michelle commented “Bradford are well drilled, disciplined side who will throw a lot at us throughout the game but as long as we stick to our game plan and work as a solid team then we’ll be fine, our defence has worked really hard this season. It will be down to our attack to perform well and show exactly what we’re made of in the opposition half. We’ll have a good combination this weekend of experienced girls and some new girls. Hopefully Debbie Drake will lead from the front showing the girls what to do and with the likes of Sheena and Helen back in the team we can turn over the league leaders.
Kick off is 1pm at Old Coventrians RFC, Tile Hill Lane.
The game is followed by Coventry Bears Academy who will play Birmingham Bulldogs. Last week the two teams tied 24 points apiece in a thrilling encounter.
The draw came at a huge cost with Birmingham suffering a player with a broken leg and Coventry’s Luke Montague fracturing both this Tibia and Fibia. Robert Wood who was making his Bears and rugby league debut also fractured a bone and two fingers in his hand.