The home side rattled in four tries in the first half but crucially only converted one of them against a single try to the RN scored by debutant Pat Coy, converted (as expected!) by Lennox Green,18:6 at the break. With most of the damage being done in the first quarter the Brothers dug deep for the second 20 posing a big threat to the Bears which boded well for the second 40.

This proved to be the case with the RNRL side coming out 18-8 winners in the half. The second half had it all some great scores, tough play on both sides a bit of niggle to keep the officials on their toes but sadly for the Brothers the clock beat them against a tiring home side.

RNRL Head Of Ops Dave Garner gave his views on a terrific but ultimately disappointing match score wise for the Bothers:

“Well a first half where we didn't come out of the blocks frustratingly cost us dear yesterday.
Going in at half time 18-6 down against any side is always hard. Let alone a side who train twice a week and are together as a group more frequently than we are as a military side are.
The second half we won 8-18 so you can see the change around. Sadly, with West Bank tiring and with a few decisions going against us the clock just beat us in the end.
Pleasing to see Josh Coupland and Sean Houghton return from their injuries and great to see Mike Haldenby return to the Brothers fold after his deployment. There was also a great scoring debut for Pat Coy and the young Wigan battering ram Brodie Lee Taylor skittled the opposition at times with some great runs. Finally, Lennox Green had his sniper slippers on slotting every conversion.
So that's us done in the Challenge Cup for this year, I am sure Ben Taylor (Capt) and the lads will all look in the mirror and now analyse themselves and as a group. Good sides ultimately learn from experiencing a loss and as a group we will whether on the park or off it. Rest assured as a group we will come back stronger!
On behalf of the Association many thanks for the continued support, it was great to see players (old & new) with their families and friends cheering on the Brothers”.

RNRL - Mike Haldenby, Luke Cooper, Barrie McClean, Gavin Duffy, Josh Coupland, Sean Houghton (vc), Lennox Green, James Parry, Callum Cone, Jonny Griffiths, Nathan Lee, Louis McKenna, Ben Taylor (C)
Replacements- Pat Coy, Brodie Lee-Butler, Matt Holland, Danny Johnson
18.Joe O’Hanlon
Scorers: T- Coy, Duffy, Cooper, Houghton
G - Green C(4)

West Bank Bears – Lee Holland, Chris Spendlove, Ed Conroy, Shaun Attwood, Gregg Forbes, Ellis Sant, Matt Murphy, Jack Murphy, Steve McDermott, Karl Glover, Lee Lamb, Shaun McDermott, Martin Murphy, Mark Ryan, Danny Hamlett, Michael Kelly
Scorers: T – Attwood, Spendlove, Ryan, Conroy(2)
G - C Conroy(2) Pen Conroy