Litchfield Bears bounce back with 40 point win over the Sharks

LITCHFIELD Bears pulled back into the winner’s circle though the reigning premiers still need to improve before finals

Bears Sam McAuley runs in Litchfield's second try as Premiers Litchfield take on South Darwin in the opening round of NRL NT.Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

LITCHFIELD Bears pulled back into the winner’s circle with a 48-8 win over Sharks, though the reigning premiers know there’s still plenty to improve on heading into finals.

Bears were relentless in the opening half scoring six tries proving their hunger to get back in the winner’s circle after a loss to Raiders last round.

Litchfield tested the Sharks defence from the opening minute and soon found a hole for Adam Hall to push through and score the opener.

However, it was the second try from Clint Chettle, a 90 metre solo effort, which killed any offensive momentum the Sharks had managed in the opening engagements.

Matt Goodfellow and Dillan Vanderburg both stood out while being among the Litchfield’s scorers, with Sam McAuley (two tries), Jackson Smith and Jason Mackrow all also scoring through the game.

The Bears eased off in the second with scrappy mistakes allowing Sharks some time on the offence.

Sharks looked on for a score when Damien Mick broke through but a handling error scuppered the chance.

But that wasn’t it for a Sharks outfit looking for points and Mark Williams made a break of his own soon after to outrun the entire Litchfield team for a score.

Williams scored another later in the half on the sideline to boost his personal and side’s tally to two tries.

“We were fairly scrappy for a fair bit particularly in the second half but we got there,” McAuley told the Sunday Territorian.

“Our forwards got us through, rolling over when they needed to. We have a pretty powerful pack so it’s handy running off the back of them.

“It’s always great to be back in the winning circle, we have plenty that we still need to improve on but we will get there.”

Litchfield take on Nightcliff Dragons next week to close out the regular season while Sharks take on the Darwin Brothers.