Bears vs Blackhawks HPC Round 19 Game Report ✍🏼 Michael Nunn

Ayr may be famous for sugar cane and mangoes, but there was nothing sweet about the UAA Bears’ trip to the small town for Country Week.

Heading into the clash, the Bears were chasing their 10th win over the Blackhawks. However, Townsville had been building nicely and came into the match unbeaten for six weeks.

Dudley Dotoi has become a prolific Hostplus Cup try-scorer, crossing in nine of the past 10 weeks, including four tries last week, and the Bears would soon find out why.

It took only four minutes for the Blackhawks to strike first. Dotoi opened the scoring when Townsville shifted left and former Bear Creedence Toia created the opportunity for his outside men.

The Bears soon settled into their groove, and hooker Blake Mozer, starting in the hooker role helped spark their attack.

Mozer fired a long pass to the left, cutting out Josh Rogers to find Jett Bryce, who then produced a superb pass to send Kane Bradley over for the Bears’ first try.

At 6–4 after 10 minutes, the contest was evenly poised.

The Bears’ second try came from a scrum play under the posts and was a work of art.

Mozer picked up from the base of the scrum, and with Josh Rogers stationed on the left, it looked as though he would go that way. Instead, he threw a long pass to the right to find Delouise Hoeter, who quickly shifted it on to Guy Hamilton before Phillip Coates crossed in the corner for his 13th try in 12 games.

At 12–4 after 20 minutes, the Bears were looking strong and Mozer in just his second game starting in 26 was having a big impact.

From that point, however, the Bears’ attack dried up until the final 10 minutes as Townsville ran riot. The Blackhawks began their comeback with strong hole-running from Luke Webley.

Dotoi grabbed his second try when the Blackhawks attacked down the left, stretched the Bears’ defence, and took a 16–12 lead into halftime.

It took some time for the first points of the second half to arrive, but they came when Bailey Biondi-Odo grubbered ahead and regathered to score near the posts.

Then Dotoi burst down the left wing and passed infield for Creedence Toia to score under the posts, with the try breaking the Bears’ hearts at 28–12.

Another long-range effort involving Dotoi extended Townsville’s lead. During the passage, Bears’ Jett Bryce was sent to the sin bin, with Townsville’s Matthew Wright joining him after an incident in the in-goal.

At 34–12 with 13 minutes to play, the deficit was a mountain too high for the Bears to climb.

Kane Bradley added a late consolation try in the left-hand corner with 10 minutes remaining.

When Creedence Toia scored his second try with two minutes left, the score blew out to 40–16.

The Bears only had 45 percent of the ball and Townsville made nearly 600 metres more with the ball they did have this makes it hard to win football games as Townsville marched up field on the back of that momentum, they were able to attack.

The Bears will take on the Wynnum Seagulls next.