Bears Grab A Win In Bartercard Cup
At Ericsson

The Glenora Bears finally got one under their belt today when they defeated the Marist Richmond Brothers by thirty points to twelve in the Bartercard Cup match at Ericsson Stadium.

In a fairly unusual start to game, five minutes in, the scoreboard showed 1/0 to the Bears. The one point was courtesy of the boot of young stand off, James Nathan. Ten minutes later the Brothers claimed the lead through a Jason Tavita try after the side had really thrown the ball around.

Glenora hooker, Dean Shepherd, made it 5/4. At the thirty minute mark, Victor Tutuila extended it to 11/4 and that?s as it remained until the half time hooter.

The score line was a reasonable reflection of this game. Glenora were certainly the more dominant side, but they were making too many mistakes. They had no problems getting the ball down to the Brothers line but once they got there they were doing silly things, trying to force the impossible pass or passing the ball into touch. Hame Lauaki was playing like a man possessed and showing his very real class. The Brothers were strangely flat, but it was only a seven point ball game and they were well and truly in it.

Ten into the second half and Jason Tavita grabbed his second try - gee, he?s got a great turn of speed. With about a quarter of the match left, the Marist Richmond Brothers lifted in intensity and immediately scored through Raymond Ioane. 17/12 and the game was in the balance. The Bears, however, had a sniff of a maiden victory and were not going to let this one go. Five minutes left and Tinetali Papali?I made it 23/12 for the Bears. James Nathan snapped another field goal and right on the hooter, Danny Bernard scored the last one for Glenora.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Bears and hunger. Today they showed that when they have the hunger and the desire, they can win games. Their young players are still very much learning their trade but some will go on to have outstanding careers at the highest level. Dean Shepherd, Scott Jones, Tiger Vatuvei, James Nathan, all these guys are of a very tender age. Watch them in the future.