Barrow Raiders 35 – 12 Halifax
In the Championship play off semi final top of the table Barrow Raiders met Halifax here in Barrow at the Mark Coward stadium, Craven Park, the winner of this game goes right through to the Grand Final.
On the night that they were awarded the League leaders trophy Barrow started well, during the first half the Raiders easily got the better of it, the defence was strong and the attacking play was fast and creative, Halifax missed a couple of opportunities but then again so did Barrow. The difference was that Barrow made much better use of the ball in attack and scored 2 converted tries as well as a drop goal, the half time score was 15 – 0 to Barrow.
Halifax started the second half stronger than in the first half and scored early in the half making it 15 – 6, Barrow hit more trouble on around 50 minutes when the influential Andy Ellis went off injured. The game was closer and tighter in the second half early although Barrow lengthened the lead again on around 63 minutes with another converted try, 21 – 6 to the Raiders, this was followed shortly later by a great team try from the Raiders scored by Andy Bracek and after the conversion it was 27 – 6 and Barrow were almost certainly home and dry at this point.
The Raiders dominated the latter stages of the game scoring a penalty and a further converted break away try, Halifax did get a consolation try late on making the final score 35 – 12 to the Barrow Raiders.
A good win for Barrow, clearly the better side, they now go directly on to the Grand Final, well done the Raiders.
