WARRIORS INTO THE BEARS’ LAIR
Gloucestershire Warriors face arguably their toughest trip of the season this weekend as they make the trip to face league leaders the Coventry Bears (Old Coventrians, Tile Hill, kick-off 2.30pm).
One of the most successful sides in the RLC, the Bears took the Midlands Premier crown last season despite losing two of their first four games including a 34-28 loss to the Warriors at Old Coventrians. They then went on to reach the Grand Final where they were eventually defeated by West London Sharks.
The Bears have contested four Grand Finals and their early form this season is ominous. They thumped Birmingham Bulldogs 68-0 in the opening week before handing Bristol Sonics their first home defeat for three years and defeated a strong Leicester Storm side last week.
They have been buoyed by the return from Hemel Hempstead Stags of scrum half Scott Clendenning-Fenton and he has already made his mark by scoring seven tries this season. His partnership with the livewire Nick Hemopo will be one that will cause the Warriors plenty of problems as the Bears seek to redress the balance after their surprise loss last season.
The Warriors will be licking their wounds after last week’s mauling at Derby City, where once again a young team was undone by inexperience and injuries which left them with no replacements towards the end of the game after they had battled back to trail 28-22 with half an hour remaining.
“The players acquitted themselves well at Derby”, said coach Tom James. “We started slowly and they got into the lead but I was pleased with our response. We got back to within a score of them twice but the injury situation hit us hard and we didn’t have the resources to make more of a game of it at the end.
“Coventry will be a hard task but I hope to have a strong side available and we go there with hope. They have been playing well by all accounts but no side is unbeatable and we will be looking to perform well and see where that takes us”.
On Sunday, Old Richians hosts the first festival in the West of England Junior Rugby League Series where teams from Bristol and Swindon take on the Gloucester Meteors and the Cheltenham all Golds in a round-robin series of matches. The action begins at 11am.
WARRIORS FIXTURES (2.30pm unless stated)
1 May, Bristol Sonics H (L26-39)
8 May, Leicester Storm H (W18-10)
15 May, Derby City (A) (L22-54)
22 May, Coventry Bears (A)
5 June, Birmingham Bulldogs (H)
12 June, Bristol Sonics (A)
19 June, Leicester Storm (A)
26 June, Derby City (H)
3 July, Coventry Bears (H)
10 July, Birmingham Bulldogs (A)
17 July, Derby City (H)
24 July, Leicester Storm (H)
31 July, Coventry Bears (A)
7 August, Bristol Sonics (A)
14 August, Play Offs
The Warriors new website at www.pitchero.co.uk/clubs/gloucestershirewarriors/
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Chris Wilson
Media Manager, Gloucestershire Warriors RLFC
Tel: +44 (0)1684 850903
Mobile: + 44 (0)7905 931033
Email: gloswarriors2004@aol.com
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L e a g u e
The Gloucestershire Rugby League is an organisation for local rugby league clubs in Gloucestershire. Our main activity currently is to promote rugby league through the County and give useful information about our sport to the public of Gloucestershire.
