Brilliant Bears hit Saddleworth for six while defence keeps door shut

Saddleworth U9 0 West Bank Bears U9 6 WEST Bank Bears U9s made the trip over to Oldham to play their counterparts from Saddleworth in a game that was expected to be a dogfight.

Having not played against Saddleworth before, it was a bit of an unknown for the Bears, and after a lengthy journey it would have been fair to assume West Bank would have been slow to start.

But that certainly wasn’t the case as the Bears began in lightning fashion, scoring their first try through Kian McGann, in their opening set with the ball.

The home side tried to rally quickly but were met with ferocious team defence, with the young Widnes boys charging off the defensive line and really working hard to slow down the opposition attack.

The first half was very much one-sided, with West Bank dominating and limiting Saddleworth to very few yards.

In possession the Bears were going about it in style, with offloads and long passes moving the big opposition pack around.

It was Kian McGann who again crossed the line to give West Bank a 2-0 lead, a try forged on the back of fantastic ball carries from Josh Swindley and Harry Hughes, who were punching holes in the home side’s defence.

Oliver Stankevitch and Michael Lawton, both playing a little wider, were finding space and were showing confidence with their abilities to carry the ball and provide short passes to the likes of George Hughes and Tyler McGann, who both showed superb footwork.

The half-time whistle came with the Bears still dominant but in need of a break after the first 20 minutes’ of very hard work.

The second half began as the first half ended, with the Oldham side giving their bigger lads the ball and expecting them to break down the Bears’ defence.

But West Bank were yet again up for the test and this was frustrating the home side.

After a lovely pass from Evan Milne, Tyler McGann got his hands on the ball with some space in front of him, and he soared down the toucline to score in the corner.

It wasn’t long before he scored a carbon copy of his first try, but this time he had a few teammates to thank, with Rueben Mafi making superb yards up the middle and providing a great offload to Lucas Hendry, who passed to Daniel Owen to set up the try-scorer.

Michael Lawton was then next on the scoresheet with a great solo effort and the game was looking even more of a one-sided affair.

The Bears, though, had to work tremendously hard for everything they got.

Thomas McDonald was great with his quick footwork in attack and Josh Lawrenson was running the show from the half-back position and getting his teammates into more try-scoring positions.

Last on the scoresheet for the Bears was young Milne who showed a fantastic step and turn of pace to dive over between two Saddleworth defenders, yet again on the back of terrific work from the forward pack.

A 6-0 final scoreline was built on the back of outstanding defence and Michael Lawton led the way, picking up the best tackler award.

Josh Swindley was superb in both attack and defence and yet again gave a performance well beyond his years.

Next up for the Bears is a home double, in which team ‘A’ take on Ince, while team ‘B’ entertain Woolston Golds.