The top Bears
Andy Thornton and centre Alan McDonald prevented a certain try.
With this early wake-up call the Bears started to connect phases and on the 10-minute mark three strong forward drives and a wellplaced cross field kick by standoff Alan Lees had the Kilmarnock defence scrambling back and as they failed to clear their lines, David Finch pounced on the loose ball for the first try of the match, with Lees converting.
Both teams were now finding their rhythm and more strong running from Kilmarnock’s backs again had the Bears defending their own half.
However, it was the Bishy Bears who struck again after quarter of an hour. A strong scrum and quick ball from scrum-half Derek
Bryans released Lees who found Bannerman who cut a hole in the defence and offloaded to Alan McDonald in close support to score in the corner. Lees narrowly missed the touch line conversion.
The second period of play again saw both teams come close with some strong running from the Kilmarnock backs.
However, again it was Bishopton who were to score next and after a solid scrum and pick and go from ever-present Irish man James Kyle released Bryans in space only to be well tackled just short of the line.
A few phases later Bannerman took an excellent offload from McDonald in the centre and graciously dived over for the try, with Lees adding the extra two leaving the score at a healthy 19-0.
Just before the end of the second period and after a strong Bishy scrum, the backs failed to connect and Kilmarnock hacked on the ball, recycled well and scored for a converted try. That put the score at 19-7 with the Polar Bears right back in the game.
As the third period of the game started, it wasn’t long before the Bishy Bears were in again.
This time another solid scrum released replacement stand-off Peter Leslie, who found Craig Gervais cutting a fine line through the defence.
The ball was quickly recycled and with Kilmarnock’s back spread wide, McDonald found Niall McLeod who skipped past a couple of defenders to score between the posts.
Leslie converted. However, not disheartened by the score, Kilmarnock continued to threaten the Bishy Bears try line and on the 60-minute mark and after some ill-discipline by Bishopton, took a quick penalty and scored a well-taken try. This again was converted from out wide.
As the game neared its conclusion, there was one final score to come from the Bishy Bears.
Again, a well taken line out from Al Dick released the backs and Lees once again found the ever active man-of-the-match Gareth Bannerman who cut through a gap to score under the posts.
Lees converted from close range to wrap up the win.