Telford Raiders Rugby League Club suffered a double defeat at the hands of Coventry Bears at Oakengates Leisure Centre on Saturday, but the under-15s ran the visitors close.
Both games however provided an enthusiastic crowd with great entertainment as the seniors lost 46-24, but there was only two points between the under 15s, who lost 18-16.
First up, the under-15s game saw the lead change on several occasions. The Raiders played with a good structure and scored first through Jack Baker.
Coventry scored the next two tries before Denham Samuels scooted to score a try, followed by a surging run to the line from Michael Younghusband, the extras added by Hayden Strong.
But Coventry never gave up and they sealed victory with a heartbreaking converted try in the last minute.
The senior Bears had won their lat game by a 100-point margin, but any thoughts of a repeat were quickly dispelled as Richard Whitehouse opened the scoring for Telford following a superb Robin Eatough break.
However Coventry replied five minutes later after winning repeat sets under the Raiders posts, Irish international prop Alan Robinson going in under the posts.
They extended their lead soon after as winger Montague went over on the left. Telford came straight back, repeatedly putting the divisional leaders under pressure and eventually Matt Evans broke their defensive line to go 40 metres to score.
Stung into action the Bears picked up the pace with quick play-the-balls forcing the Raiders into errors in their own 20 metre area and scored again just before half-time through centre Wildsmith and the Raiders went in at half time trailling 18-10.
A purple patch from Coventry Bears in the first 15 minutes of the second half saw them open up a decisive lead.
With the Raiders down to 12 men following loose forward Chris Dixon’s sin binning for holding down, four quick tries eased the visitors to a 40-10 advantage.
Richard Bringau then pulled a try back for the Raiders but Tim Stevens replied for the Bears, Healey adding the goal.
The Raiders were far from finished and had the last word, Eatough capped a fine performance with two late tries.
For the first he re-gathered his own chip kick and left the fullback for dead. The second, scored in the same spot, was the result of an outrageous side step against a tiring Coventry defence.
Raiders spokesman John Broadhead was delighted with the afternoons performances, saying: “The youth players showed real promise for the future whilst the first team gave the league leaders a very tough game.”
Raiders coach Alex Smith hopes to see similar individual and team performances at Nottingham next week.
Share this article:
What are these?