North Wales Crusaders returned to the top of Betfred League One in emphatic fashion brushing aside Newcastle Thunder by 74 points to nil at Stadiwm CSM.
Carl Forster’s side came into the weekend with a game in hand on their top of the table rivals, knowing that victory over Newcastle would return them to top spot ahead of a tough trip away to Keighley Cougars next week.
Responding to the task at hand, Crusaders put Newcastle to the sword, running in 14 tries on the North Wales coast.
The hosts set the tone of the game early on as Lloyd Roby opened the scoring with just three minutes gone taking possession in his own half before breaking the defensive line and running half the length of the field to score.
Following a gritty period of the game, Toby Hughes doubled his side’s advantage, dancing in front of the Newcastle defence, creating a gap which he ran through to score.
As Forster’s side ramped up the pressure, Sam Wilde was next to get in on the action as the Thunder defenders got caught up in an alternation with Roby allowing Wilde to make use of the gap left in the line to ground the ball.
The tries continued to flow in hot conditions in Colwyn Bay as Hughes took a pass under pressure from the Thunder line before spinning and weaving his way through to cross the whitewash for the second time in the afternoon.
Moments later, Ollie Brookes got in on the action as he finished a well worked move out on the wing taking the early lead to 24-0.
However, the home side were far from done running in two more scores before the half-time break. Shaun Costello got the first of those as he gathered a well weighted kick from Jordy Gibson and slid over the line before being followed by Josh Eaves who reacted quickly to an offload from Ant Walker and caught the Newcastle defence off-guard to score.
Re-entering the field for the second-half with a 36-0 lead in toe, the home side didn’t slow down.
Just two minutes into the second period, Brookes grabbed his second of the afternoon showing a clean pair of heels as he grounded a Gibson grubber kick before the ball rolled dead.
He was quickly followed over the line by Paddy Jones who showed great strength to power through the Newcastle defence, reaching out to ground the ball and further extend his side’s lead.
With the clock ticketing over to 50 minutes gone, Brookes completed his hat-trick receiving a pass out wide from Cole Oakley before running the ball over next to the posts.
The five minutes which followed saw two more players complete braces, as a Roby break found Eaves in support to score before he grabbed a second of the afternoon for himself completing a break from an attacking scrum before scoring.
Having passed up on three further opportunities to score whilst standing strong in defence, the home side finished the game in style with Brookes securing his fourth score of the afternoon having flattened the Newcastle defender who stood in his way. He was followed over the line by Jack Houghton who made a superb run before spinning the defensive line to score the final try of the afternoon and return Crusaders to the top of Betfred League One with a 74-0 victory.