North Wales Crusaders secured the Betfred League One title with a 30-16 victory over Keighley Cougars at Stadiwm CSM.
Carl Forster’s side came into the afternoon knowing that victory would be enough to life the League One trophy with a game to spare.
Any early tensions were quickly settled as Crusaders raced into an early lead.
With just six minutes on the clock, experienced winger Pat Ah Van gathered a well timed grubber kick from Jody Gibson to open the scoring.
Four minutes later, captain Chris Barratt led his side over the line to double their advantage as he ran onto a short pass before charging through the Keighley defence to score.
As North Wales continued to assert their dominance, Sam Wilde added to the scoring, weaving through a gap created in the Cougars’ defence.
Toby Hughes was next to cross the whitewash for the Crusaders as he capped an impressive first-half showing with an equally good effort in attacking the Keighley defence, showing a clean pair of heels to race over the line.
Despite torrential rain falling, the home sides spirits couldn’t be dampened as Barratt found the Keighley defence short, following a yellow card for foul play, and made use of the space to score his second of the afternoon.
However, the visitor’s remained undeterred by the 30 point deficit, responding with four unanswered tries of their own.
In spite of a late charge from the Cougars, the afternoon belonged to Carl Forster’s North Wales side who saw out the victory to lift the Betfred League One trophy in from of a jubilant home crowd in Colwyn Bay.