Bears opened the scoring and lead strong but were taken over by the Barbarians who took an 18-4 lead five minutes before half time.

Bears' Austin King put the ball over the try line twice for his team off the back of some great defence and good set plays off Ethan Parsons and Ben Spittles.

In the second half Bears held on as best they could allowing only one try in from Orange's side but were unfortunate to go down 28-14.

Bears coach Blake Collins said the boys dug deep throughout the game and despite the loss, he was impressed with how much the team had improved in just one week.

"They defended really well this weekend, we still have a bit of improvement to work on just those little things that are letting us down like throwing silly passes and giving away penalties," he said.

Nathan Annetts, Tyrone Iyvidikos and Paul Traish were all powerful runners making solid meters off every run they had, according to Collins.

He said overall he was impressed with the whole team.

"We stuck it to them, the game could've been our win but we gotta keep our heads up," he said.

Three points went to Ryan Bilby, two to Austin King and one to Nathan Annetts.

Bilby and Annetts shared in players player and coaches award went to Luke Amos.

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In the league tag the Bears also took on the Orange girls but were unfortunate to go down 20-4.

They started strong but a mix of cold air, inexperience and a lack of teamwork made for some partial mistakes and many handovers of the ball throughout the match.

The team are still training hard and gelling together and are hopeful for a win as they get ready to take on CSU Yellow this weekend.

Players player went to Paige Gallagher and coaches award along with three points was awarded to Sarah Millmore.

Two points went to Emma Smith and one point to Alanna Tomazin.

Referees points were awarded to Jessie Lutschini.

The Bears will host another home game this Saturday, May 8 against the CSU Mungoes.

It will be the first time the Bears boys will play the newly formed CSU team.

League tag will kick off at 1.30pm followed by the rugby league at 2.30pm.

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