HENARE Wells scored a club record of six tries to help the Burleigh Bears thrash the Sunshine Coast Falcons 60-6 at Pizzey Park yesterday.
The Bears fullback is in fine form; having now scored 13 tries in his last four appearances.
“I think three is the most I’d ever scored in one game before,” Wells said.
“Today most of my tries were off support, so I’m pretty happy with that. The main part of my game is supporting the boys and just finishing it off.”
Bears coach Jimmy Lenihan said the spark Wells’ support play is creating at the back has given his team a huge boost.
“I’m not sure, but there might a couple of him out there because it just seems every time there is a break he’s there,” Lenihan said.
It was a triumphant day for the Bears as they made it three in a row for the first time in more than two seasons.
They were dominant in all facets and now sit just one point outside of the top five.
Despite coming off a huge win over Ipswich last weekend and Sunshine Coast’s lowly position on the ladder, this shaped as a potentially dangerous game for the Bears given recent history.
“(A few weeks back) we had a good win against PNG and then we played Tweed here a week later and went really badly, so we spoke about backing up a good effort with another good effort,” Lenihan said.
“Even at the end there we were still trying to save tries with a minute to go, which was probably the most pleasing part of it.”
Bears winger Anthony Don was also in try-scoring form as he notched his second consecutive hat-trick while Tyler Chadburn also picked up a try for the Bears.
The win was all the more impressive considering the experience of Matt Keating, Nafe Seluini and Dimitri Pelo were all missing and Matt Beddow went down with a leg injury 20 minutes in.
It meant young halves Conner Toia (21), Ryley Jacks (22) and stand-in hooker Tyler Chadburn (20) were left to steer the ship and they did the job with aplomb.
Given injury concerns it is likely the young guns will get more chances to impress in coming weeks.
“As much as we’ve got a few older blokes we’re still a fairly young team,” Lenihan said.
“Keating is not going to be back for a little while, I’m not sure about Seluini and we’ll have to wait and see on Matty Beddow’s injury.”
Earlier in the day the Bears Colts drew 16-16 with the Sunshine Coast. They are currently three points clear at the top of the ladder.
Watch the highlights from this match here: Highlights Bears v Falcons
BURLEIGH BEARS 60 (Henare Wells 6, Anthony Don 3, Tyler Chadburn tries Khan Ahwang 10 goals) def SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS 6 (Jacob Samoa try Ryan Hansen goal) at Pizzey Park.
Final teams:
Burleigh Bears
1. Henare Wells 2. Khan Ahwang 3. Steve Michaels 4. Jamie Anderson 5. Anthony Don 6. Conner Toia 7. Ryley Jacks 8. Kyle McConnell 9. Matt Beddow 10. Matt Bell 11. James Dunley 12. Louis Fanene 13. Darren Griffiths (c) 14. Tyler Chadburn 15. Chris Kitching 16. Siuatonga Likiliki 20. Mark Ioane
Sunshine Coast Falcons
1. Callum Klein 2. Joe Meninga 3. Rowan Klein 4. Rueben Baillie 5. Kyle Van Klaveren 6. Brett Doherty 7. David Oakes 8. Mboya Adams 9. Jay Lobwein 10. Ryan Hansen (c) 11. Jaz Nahu-Main 12. Jacob Samoa 13. Tom Murphy 14. James Leavai 15. Matt Gilliman 16. Denman Ah-You 18. Paul McKewin
