North Wales Crusaders brought a curtain down on their 2024 season with a comprehensive 40-10 victory over Cornwall RLFC at Stadiwm CSM.
In front of a bumper crowd in Colwyn Bay, Crusaders signed off their Betfred League One campaign in style with Ryan Ellis bagging a brace and Carl Forster marking his final game before retirement with a try.
With both sides locked in an early arm wrestle, it was local debutant Lloyd Evans who opened the scoring, receiving the ball out wide to finish in the corner.
The visitor’s hit back almost immediately as Harry Aaronson skipped past the Crusaders defence to level the score.
It took Crusaders just minutes to re-take the lead as Chris Barratt setup Carl Forster to sprint under the posts and mark his final game before retirement with a try.
The home side extended their lead with 20 minutes gone as Ryan Ellis finished off a smart move from the home side who drew the Cornwall defence in before Ellis made use of the space created to score.
Matt Reid was next over the line, flying onto a pass in front of the Cornwall defence which he ran through to score sending the teams into the break with Crusaders leading 22-4.
Just two minutes into the second-half, Corwall crossed for their second of the afternoon as Adam Rusling darted through a gap in the Crusaders defence to reduce the deficit to 12 points.
Forster’s side took just minutes to respond as Barratt completed a trademark bulldoze through the opposition defence from close range to score.
Having been successful from the tee, Dan Moss increased his points tally for the afternoon with a try of his own, latching onto a pass from Reid who had broke the Cornwall line taking the lead to 34-10.
As both teams battled to end their season on a high, an intense period followed. However, Crusaders brought that to an end with little over ten minutes of the half remaining as Ellis made use of good field position to close out a 40-10 victory.
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