Bees 5 Cougars 40

Trialist James Hutchinson did his chances of a permanent move to the Cougars the power of good with an impressive performance in today's cross-code clash with the Bees.

The Wharfedale rugby union winger, who has been training with the club for the last month and made a try-scoring debut in the 60-12 win over a Keighley Amateur Select XIII at the weekend, notched another two tries at Wagon Lane.

Cougars player-coach Barry Eaton sang his praises, together with full back Ryan Smith.

"James scored a try in the rugby union half (the first half) and another in the league half and he is doing extremely well.

"Ryan also looked very sharp. He is potentially our second-choice full back but he has given me a bit of food for throught after this performance. He has been our stand-out player in the last two games."

The Cougars surprised many in the crowd by winning the union half 12-5 - this, despite Eaton admitting in the run-up to the match that they had spent barely ten minutes going over the rules of union at the end of a training session!

The cross-code Christmas crowd-pleaser could become an annual event, with Eaton saying it had been beneficial both as a pre-season work-out and also as a public relations exercise.

"These sort of games are a lot better than a training session," said Eaton.

"I'm also very keen to build a good working relationship with our local amateur and part-time clubs.

"The Bees are allowing us to use their facilities on Friday evenings for training, and so we are letting them keep the gate receipts from the match.

"It is a great concept though and, with one of our shirt sponsors, Homefinder UK Ltd, deciding to sponsor the match, there is a good chance that, with such support, we could make it an annual event."

The Cougars' next pre-season match is at Batley on Sunday, January 6.