Barrow Raiders fell to a 44-8 defeat at Widnes Vikings on Sunday in their Betfred Championship opener.
A Ryan Shaw penalty goal opened the scoring at the DCBL Stadium, but it would be the home side who soon took control thanks to tries from Mike Butt, Sam Wilde and Rhodri Lloyd before the half-hour mark.
The deficit was reduced to eight points before half-time after Ryan Johnston gathered a deft chip through from Brad Walker to score the Raiders’ first try of the season.
Shortly after the break, Danny Langtree powered over against his former club to make it 22-8, then things got worse for Paul Crarey’s side when Ryan Shaw was sin-binned and Brad Walker shown a red card on the hour mark.
The game was stopped for nearly 20 minutes after an injury to Greg Burke, and once resumed, the Raiders were temporarily reduced to 10 men after yellow cards for Jarrad Stack and Ryan Ince.
The Vikings capitalised on their numerical advantage as Butt scored his second in the corner, and they added further points inside the final 10 minutes through Joe Edge (2) and Tom Gilmore right on the hooter.
The Raiders will look to dust themselves down and go again in Round 2 against local rivals Whitehaven at the Ortus Rec. That game will take place on Friday 29 March (3pm kick-off) and tickets can be purchased here.
WIDNES VIKINGS 44
Tries: Mike Butt 2, Sam Wilde, Rhodri Lloyd, Danny Langtree, Joe Edge 2, Tom Gilmore
Goals: Tom Gilmore 6
BARROW RAIDERS 8
Tries: Ryan Johnston
Goals: Ryan Shaw 2
PAUL CRAREY REACTION
Hear from head coach Paul Crarey after Sunday’s Round 1 defeat.
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