RUGBY LEAGUE: A NEWCASTLE side coming off the back of five consecutive victories proved too much for Tom Tsang’s Coventry Bears side.
The home side’s win ensured they cemented their spot in the end-of-season playoff positions for promotion to the Championship.
Bears started nervously as the Newcastle onslaught started from kick-off – and Tsang’s men were six points down with only four minutes played.
Following the opening try, Bears started to show a little more resistance and briefly went on the attack.
But with just a quarter of the game gone, the Coventry side were 30-0 down before Chris Barratt managed to pull a try back and avoid a potential whitewash.
However, Thunder’s strong and physical play was relentless and two more tries followed before the hooter sounded to give the Bears some relief from the onslaught as Thunder led by 42 points to Coventry’s four.
With the result looking like a foregone conclusion, Bears came back out onto the pitch looking to restore some pride.
With barely half a minute gone, Brad Delaney neatly avoided two defenders to get a second try for the Bears.
Newcastle were shook by Coventry’s immediate second half reaction, but their class shone through as they responded just five minutes later.
Mikey Russell touched down for the Bears while Brad Delaney proved successful with the conversion to make the score 48-14.
That was to be the narrowest margin of the half though as Thunder added three more tries without a reply.
Charlie O’Mara took advantage of Jordan Gale’s well timed pass to earn Bears a fourth try.
But Newcastle had the last laugh as they won the game 68-20.
Bears return home this Sunday, July 16, to face North Wales Crusaders at the Butts Park Arena – the game starts at 3pm.