North Wales Crusaders wrapped up their pre-season schedule with a 24-16 victory over Coventry Bears at Queensway Stadium.
Anthony Murray’s men raced into an early lead and had chances to build on it, but Coventry responded well and it was only a Rob Massam try late in the first-half that gave Crusaders the advantage at the break.
The Bears took the lead early in the second-half and proved a tough nut to crack, but North Wales grabbed two tries in the final ten minutes to clinch victory.
Crusaders took the lead early on when Ben Stead managed to pop out a pass near the line for Simon Atherton to cross out wide.
The same combination nearly brought a second North Wales try, but Atherton couldn’t take in Stead’s pass to the right wing.
Coventry hit back as Will Tully intercepted a Crusaders attack and Elliot Hall knocked off a couple of tackles later in the set to finish underneath the sticks.
The hosts were soon back in the lead, however, as Kenny Baker ran on to a short ball near the line to crash over.
Crusaders were then reduced to 12 men as Atherton was sent to the sin-bin for dissent.
Coventry took advantage of the extra man, with Nathan Conroy forcing his way over under the posts.
North Wales regained the lead shortly before the break as they shifted the ball well across the line for Massam to cross in the corner.
In the second-half, the home side found their way over down the right after Stephen Wild had hit a nice line, but his pass in the build-up was called forward.
The Bears punished them for that missed opportunity as Peter Ryan bulldozed his way from close range.
Crusaders dominated for the next 20 minutes, but they were struggling to find a way past a stubborn Coventry defence.
Their pressure did tell eventually, though, as a nice shift to the left flank saw Rob Massam finish out wide.
The home side wrapped up the victory late on when Lloyd Roby managed to force his way over.
CRUSADERS
1 Danny Price
2 Gavin Conroy
3 Lloyd Roby
4 Simon Atherton
5 Rob Massam
6 Steve Roper
7 Ben Stead
8 Brad Brennan
9 Karl Ashall
21 Callum Hazzard
11 Alex Thompson
12 Stephen Wild
13 Kenny Baker
Subs:
14 Kenny Hughes
15 Sam Walters
16 Joe Connor
18 Dave Eccleston
19 Sam Freeman
20 Calum O’Neill
21 Aled Davies
22 Lewis Fairhurst
Tries: Atherton (4), Baker (18), Massam (37, 70), Roby (74)
Goals: Baker 0/1, Price 2/3
Sin-bin: Atherton (25 – dissent)
BEARS
1 Elliot Hall
2 Hayden Freeman
3 Kadeem Williams
4 Kameron Pearce-Paul
5 Dante Morley-Samuels
6 Mitchell Shaw
7 Nicholas Newman
8 Ollie Purslow
9 Nathan Conroy
10 Peter Ryan
11 Kieran Sherratt
12 Chris Barratt
13 Will Tully
Subs:
14 Niall Collett
15 Euan Tiernan
16 Cameron Stewart
17 Zak Fellows
18 Jack O’Sullivan
19 Bradley Sheridan
Tries: Hall (10), Conroy (30), Ryan (53)
Goals: Newman 2/3
Referee: Liam Staveley
HT: 14-12
Attendance: 138
