Last updated at 13:34, Tuesday, 01 June 2010

Title
Author
Copyright

Description

BARROW’S message that they truly deserve a Super League franchise was drilled home on and off the field in a truly competitive Challenge Cup quarter-final.

Backed by more than 2,000 travelling fans – almost half of the total crowd – the Raiders went toe to toe with St Helens and emerged with immense credit.

The eventual 20-point margin of victory for the hosts may be less than many Super League sides manage this year, but even that was too great in a game in which it was hard to differentiate between the sides.

Only four points down 50 minutes in, it was only in the closing 20 minutes that Barrow finally began to tire and let Saints secure victory with two breakaway tries.

Before that, they had produced one of the finest defensive efforts you are ever likely to see at any level of rugby league and caused their hosts numerous problems themselves.

The rotating pack of Brett McDermott, Rob Roberts, Ned Catic, Michael Knowles, Andy Bracek, Paul Noone, Chris Young and Jamie Butler had the collective game of their lives.

International-class forwards, the likes of James Graham, Tony Puletua and Nick Fozzard, could find no way through the middle of the park in a central battle few would have given Barrow any chance of winning.

But they did that superbly, with Saints having to turn on all their style in the second half to claim a win that, while deserved, came after the greatest of efforts from both teams.

The respect paid Barrow by St Helens boss Mick Potter was evident in the strength of the side he put out.

World-beating hookers Keiron Cunningham, James Roby and Scott Moore all started – the latter two at stand-off and loose forward respectively – while the only absentees were the injured, with Barrow boy Ade Gardner among them in the stands.

But Raiders were not about to be intimidated off the park by nothing but names and they took the game by the scruff of the neck from the outset.

With Paul Wellens another man missing, Saints lacked a recognised full-back and Barrow were quick to exploit the weakness of Leon Pryce in that area under the high ball.

Jamie Rooney’s kick-off was missed by all as Saints lacked a man to marshal their lines, Andy Ballard collecting the bounce and setting Barrow on an attack that eventually ended as a Rooney grubber went dead.

There was instant response from Saints as Matt Gidley and Roby put Jonny Lomax – Gardner’s replacement on the wing – clear on the outside, but Jermaine McGillvary knocked him into touch. Ballard did the same with Gary Wheeler on the other side and the goal-line defence from Barrow held until a dubious refereeing call had Saints in.

Liam Campbell was punished for offside as he picked up a loose ball in the middle of the park a good five passes after the play-the-ball. How referee James Childs could give the ruling was unknown to just about everyone, and the mass of Barrow fans behind the sticks showed their displeasure, and this increased as Paul Clough barged over from the resulting play.

Kyle Eastmond kicked the conversion but would play no further part as Rooney and McGillvary tackled him on the break and he went down with an injured ankle.

That cost Saints much of their flow in attack for the remainder of the game, but it could not be held responsible for the try Barrow soon conjured up.

On the last tackle, Rooney chipped over the defence into the in-goal area and Pryce and Wheeler did nothing but flap under pressure from Ballard and the returning Andreas Bauer.

The ball bounced free and Catic was the first to react, grounding the loose ball to level things up.

Rooney’s kicks continued to cause problems for Pryce and his wingers, one resulting in a set of six on the line that had Bracek held up by three defenders.

Barrow were crunching in defence at the other end – Graham never making more than five yards with the ball in hand – but the break did come at that end.

A knock-on from Rooney, the latest in a string of Barrow mistakes in the rain as they struggled to keep ball in hand, gifted Saints the ball and Clough again powered over through the attempted tackle of Gary Broadbent.

A six-point margin still had Barrow well and truly in the game after half an hour and they were close to levelling again as Knowles was stopped on the line as he tried to go in from dummy half. The chance went, however and Saints had another before the break as Gidley and Roby created the space for Lomax to slide down the wing to the line.

McGillvary and Liam Harrison dived at him and looked to get the winger’s foot in touch, but Mr Childs said no and a gap opened at half-time, at 16-6.

Barrow needed the response after the break and Bauer almost had Ballard in with a grubber that forced a drop-out before they struck a second time.

It was another Rooney kick high over the defence and Wheeler spilled the ball again. It bounced into the in-goal area and this time Catic dived over it before Bauer grounded and made it 16-12.

This was the hope Barrow needed, but now Saints stepped on the gas. Roby was put in for a score by a pass out the back from Pryce within minutes, and they parked on the Barrow line.

The defence was again outstanding, but could only hold out for so long before Andrew Dixon and Gidley had Lomax in for his second.

Barrow still had ideas in attack and a Rooney kick over the defence and right into the hands of Ballard had them breaking from their own 20-metre line. Campbell and Young – always quicker than he appears when breaking – supported and took play on, but Saints scrambled in defence and prevented a score.

There was magnificent defence from Broadbent and Knowles to stop Lomax taking a hat-trick and crunching tackles from Young, Butler and Bracek in the middle, before the coup de grace was applied as Pryce sent Gidley in with another break.

Barrow did not capitulate in the closing stages and Saints were never dominant – a true indication of the day as a whole as the Raiders fans continued to cheer with their whole hearts.

Barrow may have been beaten in the for and against columns, but they were second-best nowhere else on a day they showed the RFL just what this team and this town can bring to Super League.

First published at 13:14, Monday, 31 May 2010
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk