Bears Put In Big Effort In Loss To
Talented Roosters

The Bears effort was unquestionable, but the Roosters dominance in possession put the North Sydney side on the back foot as some positional re-shuffling weakened the Bears attack. In the first half with patches of rock solid defence from the Norths forwards, Bears half Aaron Heremaia showed a glimmer of his team's current form, unfortunately with no result. In the end the Roosters dominated the first period going to a 24-2 lead at half time. In the second the Bears Billy Ngawini was able to spark a resurgence with a try, after the Norths forwards headed by Michael Harper, Alex Chan and Tevita Metuisela bounced back to form and managed to lay a platform to work from, but the Roosters hit back with a length of the field intercept try. Lester Salanoa finished the Bears scoring off with final score 36-14 to the Roosters

After the match Coach Gary Freeman called both his team and staff into a huddle, "The effort was there from everyone the guys on field, the players on the bench the support staff the medical staff - everyone! We had a loss but, I'm telling you no one's going to beat us from here on". Pictured: Fullback John Russell

SYDNEY ROOSTERS 36 (Nigel Plum 2, Grant Rovelli, Michael Lett, Chris Walker, Daniel Dumas tries; Scott Porter 6/6 goals) defeated NORTH SYDNEY BEARS 14 (Billy Ngawini, Lester Salanoa tries; Richard Retimana 3/3 goals) at North Sydney Oval; Friday, 22nd July, 2005; Referee: Phillip Haines.

The Bears now have two matches on the road beginning with Newcastle this Saturday at Energy Stadium from 3:30 p.m.