North Wales Crusaders 36 Bears 12 - Betfred League 1, Round 5

The Bears endured a frustrating trip to the coast on Sunday, coming unstuck against a strong and ruthless North Wales Crusaders side.

The Welsh hosts ran in a total of seven tries over the course of the game and were deserving of the victory in the Colwyn Bay sunshine.

The Bears came into the match full of confidence after their headline-grabbing victory over Rochdale last week, but struggled to show any of that form in the game's opening quarter.

Whereas, against the Hornets, the Bears were fluid and crisp, they looked sluggish in this one and lacked cohesion.

It was little surprise when the home side opened the scoring just after five minutes, off the back of a Bears knock-on. 

The Crusaders worked it through the hands, took a couple of tackles, before Tymi Dow-Nikau touched down. Tommy Johnson added the extras.

Crusaders almost scored again a few minutes later when former Super League star Patrick Ah-Van broke down the right wing, but his inside pass to Joe Sanderson was forward. 

Then, another Bears error on the first tackle gifted possession back to the Crusaders, who were only stopped from scoring in the left corner by a try-saving tackle from Liam Welham.

The Bears briefly woke up after that scare, putting together a couple of solid sets, only to find themselves carved open by Crusaders winger Rob Massam, who waltzed in from 40 metres out breaking through a number of tackles on the way. Johnson converted.

After that blow, the Bears did finally settle and managed to build good field position and put pressure on the Crusaders. 

Twice, they forced their hosts to drop out from under their own posts, and thought they’d opened their account for the afternoon close to the Crusaders line, but Sam Bowring’s effort was judged to have been held up.

It looked as though the Bears would hold firm until half time, but moments before the hooter Crusaders scored a third try, Johnson stepping off his left foot to cut through the defence to score. He wasn’t able to convert his own effort, leaving the score at the break 16-0.

A couple of errors early in the second half gifted the Crusaders good field position, and they exploited it fully with their fourth try of the afternoon - Ben Morris touching down a clever grubber kick. Johnson converted again.

The Bears finally got on the scoreboard shortly before the hour, but it was a score that owed more to persistence and belligerence than anything else.

Despite being one of the smallest men on the park - and having a defender wrapped around his neck - player/coach Dave Scott somehow wriggled through a forest of Crusaders forwards to score his fourth try of the season. Dan Coates converted.

However, hopes of a Bears comeback were dashed just before the hour when Dow-Nikau made the most of a ragged defensive line to bag his second of the afternoon, which was not converted.

The Crusaders scored another three minutes, after they turned defence into attack with staggering speed.

When Gav Rodden smartly gathered an attempted Scott grubber, he was less than 10 metres out from his own line, but the second row burst through the Bears defence and sprinted down the pitch. 

He was tackled by Nathan Hill a few metres shy of the Bears line, but it only delayed the inevitable as Massam scooted over from dummy half for his second of the game, which Johnson converted.

The final quarter was about restoring pride for the Bears, and they clawed themselves into double figures with 14 minutes to play - Bowring taking a lofted pass from Coates to stroll over, which was converted.

Unfortunately, that was as much as the Bears could manage. And the Crusaders rubbed salt into the wound right on the hooter, as Massam completed his hat trick with an unconverted try in the corner.

The Bears will now look to get back on track this Sunday against Workington Town - the first of four consecutive home games at the Butts Park Arena.

Scoring sequence: 4-0, 6-0, 10-0, 12-0, 16-0, 20-0, 22-0, 22-4, 22-6, 26-6, 30-6, 32-6, 32-10, 32-12, 36-12.

Bears tries: Dave Scott, Sam Bowring

Bears conversions: Dan Coates (2)

Bears lineup: Hill, Williams, L Welham, Bowring, Rance, Coates, Scott, Ryan, Cullimore, Budd, Charlton, Dawson, Sherratt.

Interchange (all used): Townsend, Ho, Kaufman, Langton