First friendly

[Bearman]

Coventry Bears 20 v Prison Service Officers 18.

On a bitterly day Director of Rugby Alan Robinson took the opportunity to run the rule over some likely recruits for the upcoming season.

In a somewhat fiery encounter the Prison Service Officers gave a real test to a combination of old heads, experienced and hopeful trialists for the Bears.

The result was more about giving the coaching staff a chance to assess their players than anything else. Not that the Prison Officers thought that. They made it clear that they were there to win and one or two of them were not very happy with the match official at the final whistle.

All in all both teams can take a lot from today's game.

Ex Bear Richie Hughes was at the heart of every thing for the visitors and once again showed what a good player he is.

The game was played on the artificial pitch at the Bears excellent new training ground at Warwick School.