North Wales Crusaders Reach Cup Final

North Wales Crusaders booked their place in the League 1 Cup final as they capitalised on mistakes made by Gloucestershire All Golds to claim a 28-37 victory at the Prince Of Wales Stadium.

The Crusaders had a chance to take the lead within the first five minutes after Gloucestershire conceded a penalty. However, they couldn’t capitalise on their good position as Callum Mullkeen knocked on.

Moments later the hosts didn’t pass up on their chance to take the lead as Steve Parry took the ball near the line and sent Brad Kislingbury over in the corner.

From the resulting kick-off the All Golds dropped the ball, gifting the visitors with a chance to level the score. They did so through Alex Davidson who was sent over from close range.

After a tightly contested period the Crusaders broke to take the lead with a fantastic effort from Danny Price. After Gloucestershire dropped the ball, Price kicked it forward on numerous occasions before gathering it to score underneath the posts.

Minutes later the visitors extended their lead. Capitalising on another error from the All Golds, Luke Warburton found a gap in their defence to run through and score – extending the Crusaders’ lead to ten points.

The Crusaders then scored their fourth of the afternoon as Danny Price intercepted a pass out wide from the hosts and ran the length of the field to score.

With three minutes of the half remaining Gloucestershire responded through Mo Agro. After the ball had been knocked backwards and offloaded numerous times, Parry collected it before sending Agro over to make it 10-24.

On the hooter the Crusaders extended their lead to 20 points as they went down the short side before Simon Atherton barged his way over to score, sending the teams into the break with the scores at 10-30.

As the second half got underway the home side conceded two penalties in quick succession, and they were made to pay by the Crusaders as Ryan Smith made a nice run through the All Golds defence before passing inside to Tommy Johnson who scored.

However, Gloucester responded quickly as Steve Parry darted over from close range to bring the scores to 16-36.

The home side then had a chance to further reduce the deficit however, they knocked-on and possession changed hands.

Another chance followed for the All Golds and they looked to be over in the corner. However, play was pulled back because they had stepped out of play in the process.

The home side’s pressure eventually paid off as Chris Barlow darted over in the corner, taking the scores to 20-36.

With 12 minutes remaining Barlow grabbed his second of the afternoon. A nice chip into the corner from the home side caught the Crusaders defence out and Barlow gathered the ball to score, making it 24-36.

The Crusaders then extended their lead by a point as Ryan Smith made use of a good position to slot a drop-goal over.

Gloucestershire reduced the visitors’ lead through Harry Kidd who ran through the Crusaders defence to score and make it 28-37.

However, the All Golds had left it too late to stage a come back sending the Crusaders into the final.

Image: North Wales Crusaders Players following the semi-final victory – by Richard Long