Defeat for CC

By Chris O'Brien
June 21 2009

The Celtic Crusaders failed to build on the memorable win against Wigan on Saturday evening as they suffered a 32-18 defeat at the hands of the Hull Kingston Rovers on Saturday evening. A disappointing gate of 3,015 watched proceedings at the Brewery Field.

Cru started brightly and Mark Lennon, against his old club, fired over two penalties in the opening twelve minutes to hand the hosts a 4-0 lead.

However, the visitors quickly soaked up early Cru pressure and would go onto take control of the game. Clint Newton and Jason Netherton both bagged first-half tries with Michael Dobson on form with the boot as the visitors secured an eight-point half-time advantage.

John Dixon, lining up against his Welsh assistant boss Justin Morgan, saw his side stage a brief fightback after the interval however. Damien Quinn's awesome run and touchdown reduced the arrears to four before Ryan O'Hara latched onto an Anthony Blackwood pass to drive over. Both kicks, crucially, were missed and the scores were suddenly locked at twelve each.

However, Kris Welham's try settled the away side and tries from Newton and Dobson put the Humberside club firmly in charge.

Lincoln Withers ran over with only six minutes left as Cru threatened an unlikely late revival but Shaun Briscoe's effort rapped up the win for KR to the delight of their large band of travelling fans. The Robins, who have now beaten Cru three times this season, were more clinical and had more ideas in attack but on another day the Saders could perhaps have come away with something.

A hugely disappointing crowd of just 3,015 watched this one. Considering the hype that followed the Wigan win and the number of away fans - that's a poor turnout.

Next up is the very tricky trip to Saint Helens before two hugely winnable home contests against the Warrington Wolves and old rivals Salford.

Full Time - Saders 18-32 Hull KR
Attendance - 3,015

These things come in threes - Hull KR again beat Saders

Discussion started by CruXIII (IP Logged), 21/06/2009 01:17

CruXIII
21/06/2009 01:17

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40:20
21/06/2009 07:35

I sat in the grandstand for this one and the terrace opposite was two thirds Hull KR fans. Who were in good voice and those I met at half time in the beer queue all proper RL fans.

I reckon there were only about 2,000 Cru fans there which is not brilliant - especially after the Wigan victory and it being a nice day etc etc.

Do we want a successful RL team in South Wales or not !!?

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Firefly-half
21/06/2009 10:29

These things take time, and our home attendances are already better than Quins. Bear in mind that we have a lot of WRU encouraged prejudice against league to overcome too and the fact that Bridgend is renowned for having more sopectators that supporters. I guarantee that Leeds woulda been a sell out with the Bridgend Occassionals turning out for the biggest of matches

Regarding the match, this one was always gonna be tricky. HKR are a side on fire this season by their own standards. I thought we did a lot better than Chris O'Brian states in his article. We were very close right up until the ref penalised us AGAIN for an alleged high tackle, which was extremely irritating since many of the KR flyting clotheslines seemed to elude the latest north-looking Mr Magoo that SL chose to foist on us.

For me the turning point of our season was taking out Wigan. I now believe we can take ANYONE in the bottom half of the table.

The next three home matches are Wire, Salford and Bulls. Though I firmly believe we will win at least 2 of those, it depends on whether or not the Bridgend Big Match Occasionals think these are big enough teams to get out of their armchairs and go "experience" (as opposed to support) the better code of rugby.

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40:20
21/06/2009 16:59

The game is one of opinions. I thought we were second best in most areas, but the penalty count did seem to go against us. Although we were 4-0 up with two pen kicks in the first 10 minutes!

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Leo_1956
21/06/2009 17:46

I think the report sums up things pretty well. As it says we could on another day have got something but hull kr had more ideas than us and were more clinical in the final few yards which ultimately cost our boys. We gave a good account tho and other teams will do worse against hull kr than we did, crowd as had been said was poor tho. What do the fans want?

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40:20
22/06/2009 09:18

Free beer

Free admission

A guaranteed win

And a free taxi home !!!

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Firefly-half
22/06/2009 13:24

40:20,

You forgot the personal welcome and thanks from all the team and coaching staff.

If it's not a big name, you couldn't get Bridgend spectators into the stadium if their armchairs were on fire.

It's my town and generally I like it here, but Bridgend doesn't deserve a great team like the Crusaders.

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