North Wales Crusaders

[wonky]

Where the game fell apart for us after holding on with 11 men was when Henry opted to bat the ball back in our own 20 rather than catch it, really couldn't figure out what he was doing, where was the Rochdale lad we just brought in 

[Joe Aitcheson]

2 hours ago, homeandawayer said:

Shame you have to win that way, but I've always wished he played for us. Thar game leaves a sour taste in the mouth. 

I beg to differ, home and away, if we ever stooped to sign a piece of ***t like Forster, I’d never cross the bridge into the ground again. We have better standards than that, thank god 

[homeandawayer]

Just now, Joe Aitcheson said:

I beg to differ, home and away, if we ever stooped to sign a piece of ***t like Forster, I’d never cross the bridge into the ground again. We have better standards than that, thank god 

Fair enough and I can't stand him either but I'd rather have him on my team than against me, and he is a h*ll of a good player. Get your point totally.

[anok4u]

2 hours ago, wonky said:

Where the game fell apart for us after holding on with 11 men was when Henry opted to bat the ball back in our own 20 rather than catch it, really couldn't figure out what he was doing, where was the Rochdale lad we just brought in 

Think it was the rugby union player in him...

Edited August 4 by anok4u

[town2018]

2 hours ago, anok4u said:

Forster must have done something in the tackle and Jordan elbowed him twice for good measure.

Jordans a thug for that 

[town2018]

Well where do I start great Start 22 12 and half time and to finish 28 24 to crusaders is a bad day but not to worry Murray is a great guy for me role on next season 

[Limmertime]

Forster won the game for NWC...., he is good at what he does...influences the ref, and winds players up to the verge of lashing out. 

Thought the yellow card ended any chance of victory...had them still with 12 but defending with 11 took its toll.

13 v 13 it's a 24+ win for town

 

[Town utd]

I'm sorry to say, but town this year have only beat the teams they were expected to beat,any local coach would have done the same for me,roll on next year.

[Carlisle1921]

Didn't see what budsy did so can't really comment on that one other than to say I thought it was going to be our penalty for forster coming in late with a forearm to the head. Apparently jordan elbowed him in retaliation so if true can't argue other than to say surely it should have been left at 12 v 12?

Genuinely have no idea what we went down to 11 for when Brennan was sent to the bin though, I thought it must have been for mouthing off at the ref but apparently was for a high tackle that never happened?

[Town Army]

59 minutes ago, Town utd said:

I'm sorry to say, but town this year have only beat the teams they were expected to beat,any local coach would have done the same for me,roll on next year.

You'll be lynched for that sort of talk

Agree with you though 

[Unicorn 106]

Uncle Fester smashed a forearm into young Billy Southwards face when holding him down, the officials were the only ones in the ground that didn’t see it. He really is a complete and utter @@@@house. 

[Brookie]

15 hours ago, Onreport said:

Very very strange bringing him round  the world to play less than 20mins most games????

I said that weeks ago and got slated

[ivans82]

Despite everything going wrong we still should have won  . Those last 2 tries of theres were a joke , jumping up to take a wild swing at high kick 30 metres away from our line to wipe the tackles led to the ist and it looked like we had 3 players who just stood looking at the ball at their feet instead of kicking it out of the ground for the 2nd .Thought the Crusaders 8 and 10 were the real difference up front with Forster , they  all played big minutes whereas we seemed to just give our bench little 20 minute cameos . In fact their number 10 was the one who reffed the game not Forster .But i suppose it all boiled down to  loss of discipline and not completing more than one set of six from about the 20 minute mark until the 60th minute .

[wonky]

11 hours ago, Carlisle1921 said:

Didn't see what budsy did so can't really comment on that one other than to say I thought it was going to be our penalty for forster coming in late with a forearm to the head. Apparently jordan elbowed him in retaliation so if true can't argue other than to say surely it should have been left at 12 v 12?

Genuinely have no idea what we went down to 11 for when Brennan was sent to the bin though, I thought it must have been for mouthing off at the ref but apparently was for a high tackle that never happened?

Brennan's hit on Forster just after the burns incident was worse than the yellow, but also worth taking the penalty for. I have no fault on players sticking up for there own and it was thoroughly deserved, I like big Brad and hope he sticks around next year 

[Unicorn 106]

18 hours ago, town2018 said:

Well where do I start great Start 22 12 and half time and to finish 28 24 to crusaders is a bad day but not to worry Murray is a great guy for me role on next season 

I think we need to cut Muzza some slack on this one, it wasn’t him that elbowed Forster and I honestly think we would have put 50pts on them without that. We have lost more than we have won now which no one expected in this league.  I would question our tactics in the 2nd half playing with brisk breeze at our back we didn’t take advantage with a decent kicking game. The only time we kicked fairly early and turned them around, Forster and the the other big lads struggled to get back and were blowing out of their Aris when they did, It was baffling

[Scout7]

Think it is a bit hard to blame the kicking game as i felt in the second half we were not completing our sets very well and dropping the ball early in the tackle count which dose not help to to kick the ball early in the tackle count  would just have meant we would have had more defending to do which was already tacking its toll on the tired bodies to play the whole second half a man down and parts with 2 men down was bout to take a lot them ( also think jumping up to knock a ball down when there was no need was a poor decision  and there last try should have been booted into row Z would have been a better way to deal with it at that point

[Callum Linford 98]

Workington Town 24 vs 28 North Wales Crusaders 

Town legend hits 350 games for club as Crusaders complete double. 

Carl Forber became the 8th most capped Town player on a day were the referee had a lot to say in the game.  

Workington Town looked to go out to five wins in as many matches when they welcomed North Wales Crusaders to The Fibrus Community Stadium on Sunday. 

In the build-up to the game the Championship and League One clubs had a deadline day dash to recruit before the end of the season and Workington were no different signing Joe Hartley from Rochdale Hornets alongside Billy Southward (Grandson of GB and Town legend Ike) signing professional terms having shone in his trial with the club and being pipped by JJ  Key to the press man of the match last week in Town’s win at Hunslet. 

Also impressing on trial has been former Fylde RFC player Henry Hadfield with some cracking carries and equally impressive defensive performances this has landed the outside back a deal with Town until the end of the season.  

The day was packed with action as Town welcomed one of their community clubs Seaton Rangers for a takeover day while the club also donned the Archie’s Army and Sick Children Charity top in aid of two fantastic causes. 

To the game itself and Town were also celebrating their legendary scrum half Carl Forber who played his 350th game for the club stretching back to February 2007 (Forber has had two spells 2007-09 & 2012-present) where he debuted at home to Whitehaven in the Northern Rail Cup, subsequently his second debut was also at home in the same competition this time the opposition being Sheffield Eagles. 

Forber has since gone onto lay claim to the Town hall of fame, became the clubs all-time leading points scorer with 72 tries, 971 goals and a total points total for the club of 2,235 points, his most recent coming in Town’s 22-34 away victory at Hunslet where he scored 16 of Town’s 32 points. A true definition of what loyalty means in rugby league with 16 seasons at Workington Town RLFC. Congratulations Carl Forber here’s to many more to come. 

Town started the game with a high kick and in windy conditions got the ball back and were held out by great defence from Crusaders. Town continued the pressure on two minutes with another huge kick and a favourable bounce to force a dropout. From this Town played the set out to see Stephenson over for the opening score after 4 minutes for 6-0. 

On 9 minutes Crusaders were given a penalty for a late hit after the referee waited for some time to award the penalty. This was well dealt with as Town forced a knock on from Barratt 10 off their line. 

On 13 minutes there was a momentary stop for Jake Bradley to get treatment as he come out of Pat Ah Van tackle worse off. 

The next four minutes are all Town as they were awarded a six again and two penalties before a beautiful pass from Carl Forber saw JJ Key over for 12-0. 

Crusaders came back immediately though as a low hard kick caught Galea off guard as he shouldn’t put his foot on it instead, he knocked on, this was capitalised on as Crusaders went over beside the posts in their first attack as Ben Evans scored. 

Town were soon back on the score sheet as a beautiful run dominated by Stephenson eventually sent Jake Bradley over despite the best efforts of two would be defenders on 23 minutes.

 On 27 minutes Town were in again as Town’s newest semi pro recruit Billy Southward showed his pace and flew down the touch line to score the game's best try for 22-6 the conversion missed. 

On 33 minutes Town’s discipline let them down as Carl Forster was taken high. From the Penalty Patrick Ah Van left players in his wake to score as Moss slide the conversion in for 22-12. 

The game seemed to ebb and flow towards half time before Jordan Burns took exception to something in the tackle on 39 minutes. After consulting with his touch judge sent the Town fullback off for a for a late elbow. 

The second half started with utter chaos as the referee seemed to lose all control of the game. With three penalties to crusaders in the first set without reason. As Town went to 11 men as Forster again coned the referee in to sin binning Brad Brennan in a moment of utter disbelief to the home crowd. 

Town defended valiantly to keep Crusaders at bay and forced a knock on, before coughing the ball up themselves. Town managed to keep the scores at 22-12 while Brennan was off the pitch. 

On 59 minutes Henry Hadfield made an error as Crusaders scored through Chris Barratt to bring the scores to 22-18 on 61 minutes. This was bettered by Barratt who went over again on 65 minutes for 22-24. 

On 66 minutes Town halfback Ciaran Walker put a huge kick on for a drop out which resulted in a penalty Forber kicking for 24-24. 

On 76 minutes Cole Oakley appeared to obstruct Zarrin Galea in getting to the ball to score the game winning try despite Town’s best effort. 

Elsewhere in Lancashire Town Ladies extracted revenge on Orrell St James as a Laura Ivison Hatrick and two conversions saw Town nil a team for the first time winning 0–16. To go two points clear at the top of the Women’s League Two competition. 

GAMESTAR: Carl Forster directed the Crusaders charge to a first ever double over Town. 

GAMEBREAKER: Jordan Burns sending off gave the Crusaders all the momentum. 

Match Facts:

Town:
27 Zarrin Galea
34 Henry Hadfield
3 Chris Taylor 
21 Tommy Brierley
33 Billy Southward
1 Jordan Burns 
7 Carl Forber 
13 Jj Key
9 Matty Henson 
8 Jordan Thomson
15 Jack Stephenson 
12 Jake Bradley
22 Tyler Walton 

(Subs all used)
30 Bradley Brennan
29 Pone Tongia 
16 Grant Reid
6 Ciaran Walker

Crusaders:
25 Ben Lane
2 Jake Thewlis
3 Kieran Taylor
4 Matt Reid
5 Pat Ah Van
6 Dan Moss
7 Toby Hughes
8 Ben Evans
19 Joe Baldwin
10 Chris Barratt
12 Matthew Unsworth
17 Olly Davies
27 Alfie Sinclair 
(Subs all used)
15 Shaun Costello
16 Jack Holmes
24 Cole Oakley 
13 Carl Forster

Town:
Tries: Stephenson (4), Key (17), Bradley (23), Southward (27), 
Goals: Forber 4/5
Sin bin: Brennan (47) flop 
Sent off: Jordan Burns (39) elbow

Crusaders:
Tries: Evans (19), Ah Van (33), Barratt (60,65), Cole Oakley (76). 
Goals: Moss 4/5

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Home team Carl Forber:; Away team: Carl Forster 

Penalty count: 6-10
Half-time: 22-12
Referee: Luke Bland
Attendance: N/A 

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 12-6, 18-6,  22-6, 22-12; 22-18, 22-24, 24-24, 24-28.

[town2018]

59 minutes ago, Unicorn 106 said:

I think we need to cut Muzza some slack on this one, it wasn’t him that elbowed Forster and I honestly think we would have put 50pts on them without that. We have lost more than we have won now which no one expected in this league.  I would question our tactics in the 2nd half playing with brisk breeze at our back we didn’t take advantage with a decent kicking game. The only time we kicked fairly early and turned them around, Forster and the the other big lads struggled to get back and were blowing out of their Aris when they did, It was baffling

Why cut him some slack he brought one off the biggest blokes we've had at this club is many years across the world for him to get very little game time and not using him to his best 

Tactics will be coming from the coaching staff and if they aren't working on game day when it's there job to notice that and change them on the go 

For me this he's a nice bloke etc it ain't his fault etc just isn't good enough yes we've been injury hit but the club has also brought players in when needed the club as a whole are really going in the right direction off the field and we've some really good players among the squad but something isn't working 

[Onreport]

8 hours ago, ivans82 said:

Despite everything going wrong we still should have won  . Those last 2 tries of theres were a joke , jumping up to take a wild swing at high kick 30 metres away from our line to wipe the tackles led to the ist and it looked like we had 3 players who just stood looking at the ball at their feet instead of kicking it out of the ground for the 2nd .Thought the Crusaders 8 and 10 were the real difference up front with Forster , they  all played big minutes whereas we seemed to just give our bench little 20 minute cameos . In fact their number 10 was the one who reffed the game not Forster .But i suppose it all boiled down to  loss of discipline and not completing more than one set of six from about the 20 minute mark until the 60th minute .

Foster came on with one aim,

To wind us up, mess around in the tackle and disrupt our playmaker.

Unfortunately we fell for it and he obviously turned the game.

I enjoyed the hit off Brad though, really nice to see us have a middle that can hit, hopefully can keep him next year

Edited August 5 by Onreport

[Unicorn 106]

58 minutes ago, Scout7 said:

Think it is a bit hard to blame the kicking game as i felt in the second half we were not completing our sets very well and dropping the ball early in the tackle count which dose not help to to kick the ball early in the tackle count  would just have meant we would have had more defending to do which was already tacking its toll on the tired bodies to play the whole second half a man down and parts with 2 men down was bout to take a lot them ( also think jumping up to knock a ball down when there was no need was a poor decision  and there last try should have been booted into row Z would have been a better way to deal with it at that point

I would rather tackle them in their own 20 when they are shot at after they have just run back 60m . I thought their kicking game was poor also. All about opinions I suppose

[Seaton Lad]

On 04/08/2024 at 18:07, homeandawayer said:

Shame you have to win that way, but I've always wished he played for us. Thar game leaves a sour taste in the mouth. 

I tend to agree with you, he comes on and intimidates everyone but it has a big effect on the game and the results. I would like to see Town get someone like him, as well a intimidating he can organise and lift his team as was seen yesterday, I think we would still have struggled even if Burns hadn’t been sent off!!!

something I think is lacking in our current squad, but hey ho our season is probably over now

[Towniefan11]

2 hours ago, town2018 said:

Why cut him some slack he brought one off the biggest blokes we've had at this club is many years across the world for him to get very little game time and not using him to his best 

Tactics will be coming from the coaching staff and if they aren't working on game day when it's there job to notice that and change them on the go 

For me this he's a nice bloke etc it ain't his fault etc just isn't good enough yes we've been injury hit but the club has also brought players in when needed the club as a whole are really going in the right direction off the field and we've some really good players among the squad but something isn't working 

Was it his decision to bring him over? 
Just like he did not choose to sign Sammut? 
 

[Scout7]

2 hours ago, Unicorn 106 said:

I would rather tackle them in their own 20 when they are shot at after they have just run back 60m . I thought their kicking game was poor also. All about opinions I suppose

Yeah it is all about opinions and everyone has a different one on how to play but for me we have to move up that 60 meters they have to run back an move up as a line or the kick is point less coz they are just going to return the ball to where it come from and our lads were shattered with the extra work they were doing.  Poor Jake was out on his feet at one point and could not get back in the line who i thought was our best player by a mile

[anok4u]

49 minutes ago, Towniefan11 said:

Was it his decision to bring him over? 
Just like he did not choose to sign Sammut? 
 

Oh right. Your players are out on their feet after playing with a man down and you don't want to spell them off because you never signed that player! That is the logic of an idiot and might have cost us the game in my opinion.

[Towniefan11]

2 minutes ago, anok4u said:

Oh right. Your players are out on their feet after playing with a man down and you don't want to spell them off because you never signed that player! That is the logic of an idiot and might have cost us the game in my opinion.

He obviously had his reasons for not bringing Pone back on, what them reasons are no one knows. I’m sure if you asked him though you’d get your answers.