Last Saturday we headed down to Campbelltown Stadium to take on the Magpies in the final of the 2024 Jason Taylor Cup. The black and white boys came out firing and ex-Bear Reuben Porter took the early points, swiftly followed by another defense leak that saw the home team in the lead 12 – 0 within 15 minutes. It wasn’t a pretty start to the game but again the Bears shut down the po onslaught quickly, lifted their heads and got on within the game. With 8 minutes on the clock before the oranges break, the Bears finally broke through seeing Dean Ieremia float over the line off a long ball from Jake Toby. Kieran Hayman converted and the team went to the sheds down 12 – 6. “Our errors put our defence under too much pressure in the first half and again we had to fight hard from 12 nil down to win. We played too sideways in the first half and needed half time to get back on track.” stated Pat Weisner after the game.

The second half started much stronger with Rua Ngatikaura having a big influence off the bench and bagging a double within seven minutes of kick off. Hayman converted both and Bears found themselves finally in the lead 12 – 18. Only moments later Magpies were on the attack and swept the ball to the wing where the Bears found themselves outnumbered and the score edged within two points. Allan Fitzgibbon unfortunately found himself in the wrong spot trying to stop the try and was charged by the judiciary leaving him with a one-week suspension. Bears still had momentum on their side and the sleek winger Sua Fa’alago backed himself as he showed it and ran for the line, adding the four points to which Hayman converted. Not done yet, and with 3 minutes on the clock, Fitzgibbon makes a line break and legs near on 80 metres down field. Running out of space, he finds supporting Hayman who makes a bee-line for the white line, diving and finishing the game in style. With Hayman slightly injured from the dive, Ben Stevanovic takes the kick from the sideline but is waived away and the Bears pocket the two points 16 – 28.

“In the second half we played through the middle of Wests and controlled the ball which helped us control the result. Our bench players Phil Makatoa and Josh Bevan were tremendous again and both Rua Ngatikaura and Allan Fitzgibbon came on and got us points when we needed them to” commented Weisner. he went on to say it was “great to get the double over Wests who had a stronger line up this time round, although not our best performance but our effort and resilience was superb. We know that we have points in us every week which gives the boys confidence that we can win from any situation.”

This Sunday we return to Bear Park for Foundation Round as we take on the Roosters, kick off at 3pm. Pop it in the diary now and see you there! Check out the team named to pull on a red & black jersey this weekend >>