Bears succumbed by strong Sandbach

The hosts fought back instantly after giving away two early tries. The Bears first try cam after full back sharrock found himself on the end of a well worked try. The forwards carried hard, and after sucking in multiple defenders, the ball was whizzed wide by MOTM Kanauros to Allen who hung a pass out for the onrushing full back to score untouched.

Congleton nearly drew the game level straight after their first try after an excellent break down the left flank. Unfortunately for the Bears Mark Wright was deemed to be held up by the referee.

Tries were again exchanged by the sides, with Kanauros showing his first moment of magic for his first of three tries. The fly half received the ball and began to dance around his opposite man, dancing around the full back, and dotting down underneath the sticks.

New winger Forster was denied his first try in Bears colours following a questionable decision, in which the referee deemed the winger had been tackled fairly, and had knocked the ball on over the try line.

With the game fairly open and evenly sided the visitors eventually took advantage of some more sloppy defending from the hosts to run in a 7 pointer with the last play of the half.

Coach Pickles didn’t mince his words and let his team know what he thought of their defensive efforts in the first half, and the bears seemed to respond in kind. The bears dominated the second half and finished the half with Sandbach failing to register a phase in the Bears 22. However, this didn’t stop the visitors running from coast to coast to score a very well finished try that the Bears were disappointed to concede.

Manning and Moss were introduced at half time and their energy seemed to spark some life back into the Bears, but it was MOTM Kanauros who stepped up when they needed him most. A carbon copy of his first try, the diminutive fly half put on his dancing shoes again and waltzed through the Sandbach defence before dotting down under the sticks… Game On!

The visitors continued to hold the Bears out and resorted to time wasting to slow the pace of the game. However, despite these tactics, the Bears managed to get their first of the 3 try’s needed to obtain the lead. This came through outside centre Allen who managed to dot following an excellent chip through from full back Sharrock.

With time ebbing away the hosts remained patient, and got their second of the three tries with 2 minutes left off the clock. This time it was Kanauros to complete his hat trick. After some excellent phase play from the hosts they had worked it wide to the left flank. With a tight blindside, the visitors thought they were covered, but they left just enough space for the MOTM to wiggle down and score from 15m out.

With the wind in their sails the bears had two minutes left to score. After receiving the kick off deep in their own 22, they managed to work their way into the opposition 22, but conceded a penalty with only seconds left on the clock. Sandbach were able to keep the ball and see the game out for a well fought win.

Final score - 29:36

Man of the match - Tom Kanauros