Swinton Lions eased to an emphatic 60-10 victory over North Wales Crusaders in the Championship.
Anthony Murray’s side swept aside a valiant Crusaders side, who continued to battle until the end despite the Lions’ dominance.
Buoyed by their historic derby day win over Salford RLFC in the previous game, Swinton Lions began brightly and went ahead inside the opening two minutes when Aaron Lynch opened the scoring in the left corner and Jack Stevens converted.
Lynch and Jordan Brown were both held up in the next few plays as the Lions laid siege to the Crusaders’ line.
The first Crusaders’ chance came on nineteen minutes when Lewis Holgate was held up and the Lions extended their lead when
Reece Briers broke tackles to score by the posts and Stevens tagged on the conversion.
The try of the match came on twenty-three minutes when Charlie McCurrie raced half the length of the field before putting Josh Eaves in by the posts and Stevens converted again.
More pressure on the Crusaders defence saw Pat Ah Van score in the left corner from a big overlap, but Stevens was unable to convert.
Then, with seconds left in the half, Lynch crossed on the left but again the conversion was missed, and the Lions went in at the break with a convincing 26-0 lead.
Murray’s men made a great start to the second half when Harry Higham scored in the right corner after a Tom Ratchford kick and Stevens converted.
Four minutes in, Ah Van put in a nice kick for Stevens to score and add the conversion. Crusaders then had a couple of chances before they made one count when Connor Terrill took a couple of defenders over the line to score and Ben Fisher converted.
Adam Jones stretched the Lions’ lead on fifty-nine minutes when Trent Kelly-Duffy made the initial break and Stevens converted. Matty Welham was sent to the sin bin on the hour for a late hit on Eaves and within a minute Gav Rodden stretched the lead further, scoring in the right corner but no conversion.
Eaves added his second ten minutes from the end, being sent in by Briers after a break and Stevens converted. There was more Crusaders pressure before Jones grabbed his second after more good attack by McCurrie and Stevens converted again.
With about thirty seconds to go to the final hooter, Rodden was sent to the sin bin for a late tackle, and Crusaders made the most of it when Bailey Dawson went over from a quick play-the-ball, but Fisher could not convert after the final hooter.
Match report by Ian Rigg, featured photo by MKS Photography.
