Bishy Bears – 31
Polar Bears – 14
With Holmpark bathed in spring sunshine there was an air of feverish anticipation from the crowd of family and rugby club members gathered to witness the first home game in 2023 for the Bishy Bears.
As the game kicked off, it was the Polar Bears who emerged from hibernation the livelier team and with some strong forward play and slick handling from their backs, found themselves in the Bishy Bears half and only some strong defence work from wing forward Andy Thornton and centre Alan McDonald, prevented a certain try.
With this early wakeup call the Bears Bears started to connect phases and on 10mins and after 2 or 3 strong forward drives and a well-placed cross field by stand-off Alan Lees had the Kilmarnock defence scrambling back and as they failed to clear their lines, David Finch pounced on the loose ball for the first try of the match, Lees converted.
Both teams were now finding their rhythm and more strong running from Kilmarnock’s backs again had the Bears defending their own half. However, it was the Bishy Bears to strike again and on 16 min mark, after a strong scrum and quick ball from scrum half Derek Bryans, released Lees who found Bannerman who cut a hole in the defence and offloaded to Alan McDonald in close support to score in the corner. Lees narrowly missed the touch line conversion.
The second period of play again saw both teams come close with some strong running from the Kilmarnock backs.
However, again it was Bishopton who were to score next and after a sold scrum and pick and go from the ever-present Irish man – James Kyle at number 8, released Bryans in space only to be well tackled just short of the line. A few phases later saw, Bannerman take an excellent off-load from McDonald in the centre and graciously dived over for the try; with Lees adding the extra 2 leaving the score at 19-0, with Bishy Bears in a commanding position. However, just before the end of the second period and after a strong Bishy scrum, the backs failed to connect and Kilmarnock hacked on the ball, recycled well and scored for a converted try. 19-7 and the Polar Bears were right back in the game.
As we started the third period of the game, it wasn’t long before the Bishy Bears were in again. This time another sold scrum released replacement standoff Peter Leslie, who found Craig Gervais cutting a fine line through the defence. The ball was quickly recycled and with Kilmarnock’s back spread wide, McDonald found Niall McLeod who skipped passed a couple of defenders to score between the posts. Leslie converted.
However, not disheartened by the score, Kilmarnock continued to threaten the Bishy Bears try line and on the 60 min mark and after some ill-discipline by Bishopton took a quick penalty and scored a well taken try. This again was converted from out wide.
As the game neared its conclusion, there was one final score to come from the Bishy Bears. Again, a well taken line out from Al Dick, released the backs and Lees once again found the ever active (man-of-the-match) Gareth Bannerman who cut through a gap to score under the posts. Lees converted from close range.
Final Score: 31-14
Man of the match – Gareth Bannerman as voted by his peers and because he is handsome
Glue Player – The whole Bishy Bears team
