Bears up to title challenge

KIRWAN High coach Todd Wilson says his side will need to improve when they travel south to take on the Queensland Schoolboy Cup finals.

The Bears showed plenty of resilience to hold out a willing St Brendan’s Yeppoon in the Aaron Payne Cup final to be crowned the top school in North Queensland.

But it was the pressure the side heaped on themselves with several dropped balls in the second half, and poor passing options, that concerned Wilson.

Kirwan will meet rivals Keebra Park in the Queensland semi-finals, while St Brendan’s will aim to improve their own game against top-ranked southern rivals Palm Beach Currumbin.

It is the second straight year the Bears have made the state finals after missing out in the decider to Palm Beach Currumbin last year. “We didn’t execute anywhere near where we wanted to tonight, we really let ourselves down in that area,” he said.

“But the boys were resilient. There is plenty of character in that side, St Brendan’s threw plenty at us and we just hung in there.

“(The boys in the middle) had to do a lot of work, they kept being asked to turn up again and again. They did that. (It was an) outstanding performance from them defensively but we certainly have some work to do with the ball in our hands when we travel south.”

The Kirwan defensive fight was led by man-of-the-match and dummy-half Adrian Trevylian who put his body on the line in the middle of the field. He was well supported on the defensive end by the Bears’ sizeable forward pack including the crunching efforts lock Tyrone Gunn-james.

Their fitness was also put to the test, but Wilson’s strong training program that stood up to the challenge.

The Bears train three mornings a week, with players getting on the paddock at 5am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. St Brendan’s almost managed to snatch victory late in the clash at 1300SMILES Stadium on Thursday, after Kirwan was reduced to 12 men after fullback Steven Numambo was sent to the sin bin.

The visitors scored out wide in the dying seconds, but a missed conversion from the sideline stopped them from levelling the scores.

“The feeling is great, it is great to win the game. It was tight, it was close but overall it was an outstanding game,” Wilson said. “It was really hardly fought.” of