By Jimmy Meiklejohn
Round five of the Canberra Region Wheelchair Rugby League (CRWRL) Autumn season was held at the Queanbeyan Indoor Sports Centre on Sunday, with the White Bears team showing great depth to hold off a strong Red Bears outfit.
Brad Burns got the White Bears off to a great start, scoring first and giving the White Bears a 4-0 lead in the opening stages of the match.
Burns then put the White Bears further in front by scoring his second try of the afternoon, and with his successful conversion giving the White Bears a 10-0 lead.
Briley Sentance fought back for the Red Bears by scoring a great try to put the Red Bears on the board, and with his successful conversion narrowing the lead to four points.
Burns then replied for the White Bears, scoring his third try in the opening half and after passing over conversion duties to Mitchell Sentance the White Bears went into half-time with a 16-6 lead.
With both teams having no substitutions, the players were keen to have a break from play after such a frenetic first half of action.
Briley Sentance would be the first to score in the second half, but a wayward conversion would only narrow the margin to six.
Matt Collins burst through a strong Red Bears defensive line to score for the White Bears and with his successful conversion gave the White Bears a 22-10 lead.
Kale Popple then was on the receiving end of a miraculous bounce to score a try in the corner for the White Bears but the difficult conversion from the sideline was too much, putting the score in the White Bears favour 26-10.
Michael Skerry scored his first try of the competition to fightback for the Red Bears and kicked a classy conversion to narrow the margin to ten.
However, that would be the last score of the game, with the White Bears securing their fifth straight victory.
Final Score: White Bears 26 (Tries: B Burns 3, M Collins, K Popple; Goals: B Burns, M Sentance, M Collins) d Red Bears 16 (Tries: B Sentance 2, M Skerry; Goals: B Sentance, M Skerry).
Burns was fantastic for the White Bears, leading his team to a victory despite being understrength with so many players out.
Popple, Collins, M Sentance and Luke Patterson were all fantastic for the White Bears in what was a complete team performance.
B Sentance fought valiantly for the Red Bears but was unable to get the Red Bears the victory on this occasion.
Skerry and Amanda Carlyon were terrific for the Red Bears, with both showing great improvement in the past few weeks.
The Grand Final for the Canberra Region Wheelchair Rugby League competition takes place on Sunday 20th of June at the Queanbeyan Indoor Sports Centre, with the game set to kick off at 2pm.
For anybody interested in playing in our spring competition, this would be a great opportunity to watch some great wheelchair rugby league. For more information please contact crrl@raiders.com.au.
