Bears beaten in intense battle

The Burleigh Bears lost 28-10 in an intense battle with the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls Sunday. The Bears were forced to play with 11 men at one stage due to the two major battles they were fighting - the referee and the Seagulls forward pack

“We faced a hard team and had some injuries, but I’m not making excuses,” Bears centre and iSelect Titans stalwart Steven Michaels said. “There were some efforts there, some positive signs, but now we put ourselves in the position that we have to win all our games.”

Burleigh, who were coming off of a win over the Mackay Cutters, went into the game confident but the Seagulls who came off stronger in the first half. Wynnum-Manly Mitchell Buckett scored the first try of the game followed by another quick one by Mitchell Frei.  The Seagulls led 10-0 only 15 minutes into the game.

The Bears gave up a lot of penalties which allowed for the visiting team to dominate possession of the ball throughout the entire first half. Captain Darren Griffiths was the first of two Bears to be sin-binned. This decision not only angered the home crowd but gave the rest of the players some fire to finish the half strong. Winger Jamie Anderson scored a try off of a bounce of a kick, tightening the gap 10-4 at the end of the first half.

After the break, the Bears seemed to have left all of their aggression and unhappiness from the first half behind. iSelect Gold Coast Titan Brad Tighe received a pass from a Burleigh scrum and ran the length of the field, tying up the score. 

“It was a bit of individual brilliance which we needed,” Michaels said.  “It was probably our best play and lifted us up a bit.”

However, that would be the last time the Bears would score. The Bears saw two more players come off as Francis Veukiso was the second player sin-binned and Tyler Chadburn was sent off.

The Burleigh Bears travel to Kalabond Oval to take on the PNG Hunters this Saturday with victory a must to remain in the finals.

“PNG run hard and tackle hard so we have to prepare ourselves for that and stopping them,” Michaels said.  “It’ll be a tough assignment but if we put in the effort like we did last week, there’s a chance at winning.”

WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 28 (Daniel Ogden 2, Peter Gubb, Mitchell Buckett, Mitchell Frei tries; Matthew Seamark 4 goals) def BURLEIGH BEARS 10 (Brad Tighe, Jamie Anderson tries; Khan Ahwang goal) at Pizzey Park.