SECOND HALF ERRORS LEAD TO BEARS LOSS

24th April 2010 | by Steve Little | Back to Full List of Articles | PDF Media Release

A valiant attempt by the Bears depleted forward pack has not been enough to overcome a higher error rate than their opponents in the second half to lose 44-10 to fellow foundation Club Western Suburbs.

With a slender two point led to Wests at halftime the Bears had it all to play for.

Norths were under pressure early [in the first half] off a penalty and Wests’ George Kepa scored within the first two minutes. Chris Corby converted for a 6-0 lead to Wests.

However by the thirteenth minute the Bears were on the attack when Wests’ Gus Aiga scored against the flow of play. Chris Corby again converted for a 12-0 lead to Wests.

The Bears first try came at the 21st minute and was a relatively straight forward affair – Bears hooker Brock Molan found a gap down the middle and passed to Curtis Johnston on the wing to score. Eddie Paea converted and it was 12-6 to Wests.

At thirty minutes the Bears received the ball after tackling the Magpies in-goal. It was a simple matter to run the ball and find the gap for Ryan Apps to score and make it 12-10 to the Magpies.

But then came a period where ball security was wanting from both teams before the siren sounded for the end of the half.

It was a good start out of the blocks for Bears in the second half. The Bears defense was starting to take its toll on the Magpies. But the errors for the Bears mounted (many in the Magpies half) and Wests ran in six unanswered tries to win 44-10.

“I thought we did alright in the first half” claimed Bears coach Wayne Lambkin.

“We competed well, got off to a bad start we got over that, but then in the second half we just spilt too much ball.” It was a case of “too many errors in the oppositions’ half” and “throwing away attacking opportunities, that’s where it went wrong.”

Wayne Lambkin named Ryan Apps, Deon Apps and Daniel Sayegh as the best on field.

WESTERN SUBURBS 44 (8 tries, 6 goals) defeated NORTH SYDNEY 10 (Curtis Johnston, Ryan Apps tries, Eddie Paea 1 goal) Halftime 12-10 Western Suburbs.

The Bears will be back at North Sydney Oval once again on Sunday 2 May at 3:00 p.m. for the round 8 match against the Wentworthville Magpies.