Kian’s four-try haul helps inspire Bears to dig out victory over Miners
West Bank Bears U9 6 Leigh Miners Rangers U9 3 A DEPLETED West Bank Bears U9s took on their counterparts from Leigh Miners Rangers on Sunday in hot and humid conditions and with only 11 players available on the day it turned out to be a draining game for the young Bears.
The opposition travelled with 18 players and this gave them an advantage in that they could spell their young players when they were getting tired.
The Bears did not have that luxury, but the forward pack were quite simply outstanding, with front-rowers Rueben Mafi and Harry Hughes continually putting their hands up to carry the ball in. Back-rowers Oliver Stankevitch and Michael Lawton also did it tough on the day and were always available to do the hard stuff in the middle against the huge Miners’ pack.
There was a noticeable size difference between the two teams, but what the Bears gave away in size, they got back in creativity, pace and skill, and it was these three attributes which caused the Leigh side problems throughout the game.
West Bank started quickly and were soon 3-0 up in tries and looking comfortable.
Kian McGann and Tyler McGann were the scorers with amazing individual efforts after an earlier superb full length-of-the-field score by teammate Rueben.
Josh Lawrenson and Evan Milne, both playing as half-backs, were looking very classy with their handling skills, and after the ‘go forward’ from the bigger lads, it was that duo who took control and directed the team around, giving George Hughes and the McGann brothers space out wide to exploit.
As the first half came to a close, it was clear that the young Bears were tiring, but they still looked strong in defence. Only a bemusing call from the referee, in which he told a Bears player that he could not make a tackle, left a gap for the Miners to exploit and get over the line making the score 3-1 at the interval.
The second half started brightly for the away side, and West Bank immediately put themselves under pressure with a couple of errors on their own line.
Despite heroic work in defence, the Miners charged over twice in as many sets to bring the game level, and it was looking ominous for the home side who looked physically shattered.
With Jack Grant and Milne on the sidelines through injury, the Bears had to roll up their collective sleeves and tough it out with only nine fit players. Michael Lawton came up with the big hit of the game which gave West Bank a huge boost of confidence and the forward pack were in the mood to finish the game strong.
Daniel Owen was yet again faultness with his quick distribution from dummy half and this was vital in giving Kian McGann time to outwit the opposition and score a second half hat-trick of tries.
As the game neared its end and despite the referee seemingly doing his best to award decisions against the Bears – including what seemed like perfectly good tries – it was all West Bank and on the back of more solid defence, the Bears eventually ran out 6-3 winners.
Man-of-the-match as voted for by both the parents and the opposition coaches went to Kian McGann who also crossed for four tries, with Michael Lawton picking up the best tackler award after getting through a mountain of work and a couple of huge defensive hits which drew pats on his back from his teammates.