Report: Barrow Raiders 6-30 Newcastle Thunder

Barrow Raiders were beaten 30-6 by fellow Betfred Championship high-flyers Newcastle Thunder in Round 19.

Despite taking the lead midway through the first half through Curtis Teare, the Raiders were made to pay the price for missed tackles and poor execution in the searing Cumbrian heat.

Teare’s opening try was somewhat of a gift, Newcastle coughing up possession inside their own 10 and the Raiders centre scooping the ball into his arms before holding his man off to cross in the right corner.

Newcastle responded in impressive fashion, an intercept close to their own line paving the way for Jack Smith to receive the ball and race 90m downfield to score, despite the best efforts of Shane Toal and Andrew Bulman to reel him in.

That made it 6-4, until an illegal ball steal under the Newcastle posts allowed Brad Walker to level the scores before half-time with a penalty.

The second half continued to be a war of attrition, but the visitors posted first points when Jordan Lupp broke through some weak defending near halfway and went the distance.

Soon after, Barrow’s attempts to keep the ball alive proved to be their undoing. It ended up being batted backwards but straight into the hands of Will Roberts, who went 50m to go over and make it 18-6.

Brad Day was next to score for Newcastle with seven minutes to go, before Roberts put the icing on the cake with his second try in the closing moments.

The Raiders will need to regroup quickly, with a tough trip to the DCBL Stadium to face Widnes Vikings on the horizon next Saturday.

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BARROW RAIDERS 6

Tries: Teare

Goals: B.Walker

NEWCASTLE THUNDER 30

Tries: Smith, Lipp, Roberts (2), Ward

Goals: Harrison, Roberts (4)