photo by Ian Lovell

Crusaders Colts won their eighth game of the season on Saturday afternoon to cement their position at the top of the table after easily beating a weakened Dewsbury Celtic side.

The scoreline almost mirrored the 66-12 win that the Colts had over Dewsbury in the first match of the season.

Dewsbury held their experienced opponents for a full 13 minutes before Gerg Callow fed Ashley Griffiths for the winger to go in for his first try of the day in the corner. Lloyd White did well to kick the tricky conversion.

From then on the Colts dominated proceedings with an excellent set of individual first half tries.

Steve Parry scored the second on 20 minutes, former Great Britain students captain Lee Williams followed him over on 23, Griffiths crossed for his second straight from kick-off and Lloyd White did exactly the same before the crowd had time to draw breath. White kicked all the conversions to make the score 30-0 in as many minutes.

Dewsbury hit back after Steve McNamara went over from close range following a fine passing move.

But Phil Cushion made a welcome return to the Brewery Field as he waltzed through for Crusaders' fifth try on 37 minutes. White kept up his 100% record to put the half-time score on 36-4.

Elliott Kear opened the second half in style, scoring after just five minutes with a 70-metre run while Josh Hannam went over ten minutes later for an eighth Crusaders try. White converted both.

Dewsbury scored their second try on the hour mark with Paul Gledhill forcing his way over with Graham Dobson converting.

Cushion went over for his second try of the day with Crusaders Colts next attack after good play from White, while Parry did likewise as he ran 70 metres after receiving the ball straight from kick-off.

The 11th try was with five minutes to go. Mark Wool made the metres, passing to White who in turn laid off to Hannam who had an easy run to the line.

But Dewsbury had the final say with a Dobson try in the last seconds. The half-back converted it himself but it was merely a consolation effort.

CRUSADERS COLTS
1. Elliott Kear
2. Josh Hannam
3. Greg Callow
4. Lee Williams
5. Ashley Griffiths
6. Steve Parry
7. Lloyd White
8. Jamie I'Anson
9. Tom Burnell
10. Geraint Davies
11. Philippe Gardent
12. Mark Wool
13. Chris Vitalini
Subs:
14. Barrie Phillips
15. Gil Dudson
16. Oliver Hughes
17. Phil Cushion
Tries: Griffiths (13, 25), Parry (20, 66), Williams (23), White (28) Cushion (37, 64), Kear (45), Hannam (55, 75)
Goals: White 11/11

DEWSBURY CELTIC
1. Jack Bradbury
2. Steve McNamara
3. Paul Gledhill
4. Martin Brannan
5. Neil Wall
6. Dom Byrne
7. Graham Dobson
8. Matt Clark
9. Nathan Hadfield
10. Alex Walmsley
11. Andy Gibson
12. Danny Waters
13. Sheara Singh
Subs:
14. Aiden Anderson
15. Dave Parker
16. Matt Oldroyd
Tries: McNamara (31), Gledhill (60), Dobson (80)
Goals: Dobson 2/3

Referee: Ian Curzon
Half-time: 36-4
Men of the match:
Crusaders - Tom Burnell
Dewsbury - Graham Dobson
Gamestar: Tom Burnell with many fantastic plays which led to some of the tries.
Gamebreaker: Elliott Kear's try just after half-time proved that Dewsbury weren't able to get back into the game.

article by Ian Golden
14 June 2008