IAN RIGG Heywood Road Sunday
The Crusaders booked themselves a home tie against Hunslet in the next round following a good performance against the Lions who had fought hard to get themselves a slender lead, but the visitors bounced back to score two late tries and take the spoils.
Crusaders took the lead in the third minute when a great passing movement saw centre Harry Swarbrick crash over on the right but the conversion from Brad Billsborough fell wide. The Lions tried to hit back quickly but Will Hope in a great position knocked on near the line. The Lions were getting penalised a lot in the early stages and after three on the bounce Swarbrick added his second of the afternoon to stretch the lead again going over on the right, but the conversion attempt again fell wide from Billsborough. Hope was sent to the sin bin on eighteen minutes for backchat and from this penalty Crusaders almost scored again when Dante Morley-Samuels and Rob Massam combined well down the left, but the final pass was forward and the chance was blown.
Chris Barratt was sent to the bin for a shoulder charge on twenty-four minutes and a couple of minutes later the Lions hit back when Lewis Else and Mitch Cox combined to send Mike Butt over on the left, but Dan Abram could not convert. Brad Brennan got over for Crusaders just before the break but was grounded on his back.
The Lions came out in the second half with the words of coach Allan Coleman ringing in their ears and this seemed to have worked when Rhodri Lloyd went over on the right to score and level the scores but again the wind was too tricky for the conversion. The Lions then forced three goal line dropouts in three sets but the Crusaders defence was holding strong and then Dean Meadows went close before Jack Hansen kicked through the defence and chased but knocked on as the ball was running away from him over the line. The defence eventually was breached when Max Roberts forced his way over on the left to score for the Lions to put them into the lead and Dan Abram added the conversion from near the touchline but this lead only lasted eight minutes when Crusaders turned on the pressure again on the Lions line and Barratt went over by the posts to score after some good play near the line with Billsborough converting from close range to level the scores and it looked like golden point might be looming. Another good attack down the left by Morley-Samuels and Massam forced Abram to knock on ten metres from his line and from the scrum quick hands saw the ball spin left and Kieran Sherratt went through a huge gap to score with Billsborough again converting but the Lions didn’t give up and in the dying seconds Richard Lepori broke down the right before cutting inside and sending out a pass to Else and he tried to hack the ball on and Jack Holmes managed to smother it and the final hooter sounded.
MATCHFACTS
LIONS
1 Dan Abram
2 Mike Butt
4 Max Roberts
11 Rhodri Lloyd
5 Richard Lepori
6 Lewis Else
7 Jack Hansen
8 Will Hope
9 Luke Waterworth
10 Lewis Hatton
13 Nick Gregson
12 Mitch Cox
16 Louis Brogan
Subs (all used)
14 Matt Wilkinson
19 Jose Kenga
17 Jack Spencer
20 Deane Meadows
Tries: Butt (26), Lloyd (42), Roberts (62)
Goals: Abram 1/3
Sin-Bin: Hope (18) Backchat
CRUSADERS
24 Jack Holmes
1 Pat Ah Van
3 Harry Swarbrick
5 Dante Morley-Samuels
4 Rob Massam
NN Jordy Gibson
7 Brad Billsborough
16 Chris Barratt
9 Patrick Rainford
8 Callum Hazzard
15 Gav Roden
12 Kieran Sherratt
20 Matt Fletcher
Subs (all used)
11 Paul Nash
22 Brad Brennan
25 Jack Houghton
31 Callum Hughes (NU)
Tries: Swarbrick (5,14), Barratt (70), Sherratt (73)
Goals: Billsborough 2/4
Sin-Bin: Barratt (24) use of shoulder
Referee: Liam Rush Attendance: 516
