Crusaders 'Celts' get Round 3 of the 2024 WRL Invitational Campaign underway

REPORT

• Lucie Roberts makes her first appearances of the season in last weekends fixtures. 
• Hayley Matthews claims just her second ever Crusaders try as she dotted down against Cardiff. 
• Crusaders newbie Claire Owlett continues her impressive try scoring record as she’s once again able to score.
  

In the days opening game, the Celts who for the first time this season were playing at home took on last seasons runners-up, Hereford Harriers.

The first half was a game of one ups man ship as the lead exchanged hands on multiple occasions.

The Celts were the first team to get points on the board as the Harriers were penalised in the early exchanges and Martin Turner was able to knock his team ahead from the tee.

It took until the sixth minute for the lead to change hands for the first time as Hereford were able to add their first converted try of the morning.

Lucie Roberts, making her first Welsh League appearance of the season was next to cross for her first of the day, with Turner adding another conversion.

Hereford were again next to cross as they extended the lead with back-to-back tries. However, Lucie Roberts was once again able to cross.

The Crusaders were able to level the board at 18-a-piece with the final play of the game, as Lucie Roberts crossed again, this time beating Alan Caron to a high ball to cross in the corner.

Hereford came out in the second half aiming to prove a point as they crossed for three consecutive tries taking the score to 34-18.

Crusaders were next to cross as once again Lucie Roberts showed her experience and was able to break the line to cross, with Turner adding the extras.

Hereford soon enjoyed their purple patch of the game as they managed the next four tries, however, it was the Celts who were able to get the final score.

Lucie Roberts grabbing her fifth of the game and wrote herself into the history books by becoming the first crusaders wheelchair player to score every try in a singular game.

NORTH WALES CRUSADERS CELTS: Hayley Matthews, Wyatt Jones, Lucie Roberts, Martin Turner, Ethan Neilson

INTERCHANGES: Harry Jones (unused), Sophie Bamford, Claire Owlett

Tries: Roberts (10, 14, 18, 40, 56)

Goals: Turner 6/7

HEREFORD HARRIERS: Alan Caron, Andrew Holley, Gary Preece, Alan Sheriff, Jacob Robinson

INTERCHANGES: N/A

Tries: Caron (6), Preece (11, 14, 31, 34, 48), Sheriff (37, 42), Robinson (46), Holley (54)

Goals: Preece 9/10

North Wales Crusaders Celts Player of the Match: Ethan Neilson

Hereford Harriers Player of the Match: Alan Sheriff

Referees: Kim Abel, Patrick Martin

The Celts’ second game and the days final, they took on Cardiff, aiming to show that last weekends 1-point victory was a fluke.

The Celts made a few changes to their starting lineup for this game as Claire Owlett started on the wing and player/coach Harry Jones who elected to sit out of the Hereford game started down the middle.

The Celts were able to force an error straight from the kick-off, with Wyatt Jones crossing from the resulting set, the unsuccessful conversion taking the score to 4-0 after little under a minute.

A long kick-off looked to cause issues for the Celts however, Wyatt Jones was able to herd it into touch but after some strong defence by the visitors, the Celts turned the ball over just a metre from the Cardiff line.

It was backwards and forwards for the next few minutes as Cardiff kicked early in their set and were forced to weather another wave of Celts attack, where the Celts were able to force a goal-line-drop-out.

This resulted in the next score as the drop-out was claimed by Harry Jones just 4 metres from the Cardiff line and Lucie Roberts was on the end of a quick tag to score under the posts, the conversion making it 10-0 after 6 minutes.

The Celts thought they were in in the very next set as they commanded their way up the field with Hayley Matthews being tackled just short of the line. A looping pass by Harry Jones back to Matthews ricocheted off Lucie Roberts giving Cardiff the ball. A penalty from this set gave them some excellent field position.

 Some strong defence by the home side saw them win an 8-metre restart as they were able to shepherd a kick on the last out over the dead ball line.

This set resulted in the next score as once again the experience of the Jones pairing, and Lucie Roberts trio commanded their team up the field for Hayley Matthews to cross in the corner for her first of the season and for her just her second ever try.

The Celts scored from the very next set from what seemed like a copy and paste of the previous as they stormed up the field with Harry Jones offloading on the line for Lucie to cross for her second of the game.

Cardiff were able to weather a strong wave of Celts attack resulting in an 8 metre restart. An early kick from this set resulted in a Celts error, giving the away side some excellent field position.

However after some defensive work the Celts took back control going back-to-back-to-back as Lucie was able to cross for a further two tries whilst player/coach Harry Jones crossed for this only try of the afternoon.

The Jones try being the final bit of scoring action of the half as the Celts went in 36 nil up at the break.

The Celts thought they were in for another try of the proceedings as they once again stormed up the field but were stopped on the final tackle with what looked like a ball steal but the referee waved play on.

Cardiff were able to pounce on this mistake as Lee Sargent was on the receiving end of an early kick to cross for his sides first try of the game.

 The Celts were able to jump on a short kick-off as Lucie Roberts regathered to gain some great field position, the resulting set saw Harry Jones once again play provider as he offloaded to Claire Owlett crossed in the corner to continue her impressive scoring record of the season.

After some great attacking play by both sides, the Celts thought they were in as Lucie Roberts weaved her way through the Cardiff defence, however, her offload to youngster Ethan Neilson sadly came to nothing.

Again, both sides briefly exchanged attacking phases but this time the Celts were able to score as Lucie was able to cross in the corner.

Cardiff thought they were in the ascendancy as Paul Sargent was able to regather the kick-off but was sadly deemed to be Infront of the kicker, the resulting penalty came to nothing as some miss communication by the home side led to a turnover on the Cardiff line.

The Celts started to get extremely complacent as they were unable to complete an attacking set for the next 10 minutes – following multiple forward passes, knock-ons and general coach killing mistakes.

They were able to recover from this and after conceding an 8-metre restart were able to retake control as Wyatt Jones was on the receiving end of another Harry Jones offload to cross under the sticks.

This offload by Jones was his last bit of action as he opted to swap himself for Martin Turner for the last 10 minutes of play. Turner’s influence was instantaneous as some quick hands by himself, and Wyatt Jones led to Lucie Roberts crossing for her sixth and final of the game.

There was lots of action still to come in the last 5 minutes as Crusaders were able to cross a further two times and Cardiff crossed for their second.

The first of these tries came as Martin Turner was able to claim a quick pass from Lucie Roberts and coast through to score under the sticks.

The next try came from a Celts error, after some great attacking play the home side found themselves just metres out from the Cardiff line, however, a loose pass was punced on by Lee Sargent and he was able to race down the pitch to score his sides second of the afternoon.

The home side were able to get the final score as Lucie Roberts once again regathered a short kick-off with Wyatt Jones able to cross for his hattrick and his sides final of the day.

NORTH WALES CRUSADERS CELTS: Hayley Matthews, Wyatt Jones, Lucie Roberts, Harry Jones, Claire Owlett

INTERCHANGES: Martin Turner, Sophie Bamford, Ethan Neilson

Tries: Matthews (11), W. Jones (1, 49, 58), Roberts (6, 13, 19, 21, 38, 51), H. Jones (24), Owlett (33)

Goals: W. Jones 6/13

CARDIFF BLUE DRAGONS: Dan Martin, Libbie Sargent, Siân Morris-Parker, Rick Martin, Lee Sargent

INTERCHANGES: Alana Sargent, Paul Sargent

Tries: Lee. Sargent (31, 56)

Goals: Lee. Sargent 2/2

North Wales Crusaders Celts Player of the Match: Wyatt Jones

Cardiff Blue Dragons Player of the Match: Dan Martin

Referees: Kim Abel, Alan Caron