Championship new boys North Wales Crusaders sent out a statement of intent on Sunday afternoon as they thumped Swinton Lions in a pre-season friendly.
The League One champions have experienced plenty of change over the off-season with head coach Carl Forster leaving the club and Dean Muir picking up the reins as his replacement. A raft of new signings have arrived in Colwyn Bay, too, with Greg Eden and Dec Patton being the headline names.
All that change doesn’t seem to have thrown them off their stride, though, with the Crusaders sweeping aside Swinton 30-6 at Stadiwm Eirias.
Former Warrington Wolves man Cole Oakley grabbed the first try of the game for North Wales after just seven minutes with debutant Patton, another ex-Warrington man, finding his way over just a few minutes later to put the hosts into a comfortable early lead.
Ellis Anderson scored Swinton’s only try of the game in the 23d minute of the contest but Luke Forber restored the Crusaders’ dominance five minutes later.
Ollie Brookes touched down either side of half-time for a brace and that was before centre Jayden Hatton wrapped up the scoring on the day with a try in the 66th minute.
North Wales will be in action again on December 28 when they travel north to Barrow Raiders for another friendly before facing what is expected to be a young Wigan Warriors side on January 10. They open up their Championship season with a trip to Widnes Vikings on February 1.
That wasn’t the only game played this weekend with Sheffield Eagles travelling to Keighley Cougars for a trial clash at Cougar Park. The South Yorkshire side won the game 26-22, with Craig Lingard giving debuts to nine off-season recruits
Ex-York Knights man Joe Brown scored the first try of the day for the Eagles before Kai Morgan got over on his first appearance since arriving at Sheffield from Salford Red Devils.
Keighley hit back with tries from Connor Saynor and David Foggin-Johnstone, but Kieran Gill, another debutant after joining from Bradford Bulls where he scored 75 tries in 111 games, touched down in the 37th minute to ensure the visitors went in at the break with a lead.
The four second half tries were split evenly between the two sides, with Brad Holroyd and George Flanagan scoring for the Cougars and Billy Walkley and Conor Fitzsimmons getting over for Lingard’s side, who are fancied by many to improve on last season’s disappointing 11th placed finish.
The Eagles will take on Batley in another friendly on January 11 before taking on Whitehaven in the first round of Championship action. Keighley, on the other hand, open the season by welcoming Widnes to West Yorkshire.
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