KINGSTONE PRESS LEAGUE ONE PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL

BARROW RAIDERS 46 DONCASTER 6

IT would not be a surprise this morning if travel agents in Barrow and the surrounding area suddenly found themselves inundated with enquiries about the availability of some last-minute weekend breaks in Toulouse.

Yes, dig out those passports, cancel those prior family engagements, cash in any sick days or get those excuses for your boss ready, and don’t forget to put the cat out, because Barrow Raiders are heading back to the South of France on Saturday for a shot at promotion back to the Kingstone Press Championship.

Of course, it will not just be those supporters who quite like the sound of an early autumn trip to the Occitania Region for some rugby league – the weather forecast is for temperatures around 24C come the early evening kick-off, in case you were wondering – scrambling to re-arrange their lives.

Barrow’s players will be having to do so as well. No doubt most of the squad have already had this conversation with their various employers in their day jobs, knowing the possibility of playing Toulouse in the play-off final was a distinct possibility after Sylvain Houles’s men suffered a shock loss to Rochdale Hornets in the title decider.

Even so, head coach Paul Crarey and his staff will need to know who is available within the next 48 hours so they can plan for the long journey there, although hopefully one which will not necessitate the roundabout adventure York City Knights had to endure ahead of their play-off semi-final there.

It is small wonder that the Knights, who could only muster a starting 13 for the match and then had to fly to Barcelona followed by taking a 246-mile coach trip to the venue, were trounced 62-10 by Toulouse in that match.

And with Toronto Wolfpack set to join League One next year as well, the travelling demands asked of these part-time players by the RFL is only going to get worse. That discussion is for another day though.

Because while it would be easy to dwell on that negative aspect, it must be remembered the Raiders are now just 80 minutes away from a return to the second tier of rugby league in this country for the first time in two years – and they could hardly have done it in a more convincing manner than the way they despatched Doncaster at Craven Park in their semi-final meeting yesterday.

The scoreline of 46-6 in favour of the hosts, who ran in eight tries, tells its own story, yet the win was as much of a result of their defensive efforts along with their attacking prowess.

That was no more truer than in the first half. Even in the opening minutes, Barrow were forced to defend a repeat set and they got their reward for holding firm when Danny Morrow, back in the side after completing a suspension, broke the line and set clear Oliver Wilkes, who in turn sent over Max Wiper for the first try after five minutes.

A try-saving tackle from the impressive Ryan Fieldhouse then denied Doncaster winger Louis Sheriff three minutes later, with the Raiders full-back involved at the other end soon after as he provided the assist for Chris Fleming to dive over out wide from a cut-out pass.

Doncaster began to dominate the possession and territory though as stand-off Jordan Howden took advantage of a strong wind at his back to keep Barrow pinned deep in their own half with his kicking.

One of those saw Fleming knock on while trying to take the catch, with back-to-back penalties for ruck infringements ratcheting up the pressure on the defence even further, which eventually told when Kyle Kesik dashed through a gap to score on 19 minutes followed by Tom Carr converting.

That was as close as Doncaster got to the Raiders all afternoon though as Barrow’s resilient defence, not to mention a string of handling errors from the away side, ensured they would not trouble the scoreboard again.

Another break, this time from Jamie Dallimore, led to Barrow establishing some breathing room six minutes before the break, with Anthony Bate taking advantage of the away defence getting in a tangle with the referee to dot down from a kick into the in-goal.

Chris Hankinson added a penalty soon after to go with his five conversions on the day, with two tries from interchange man Dan Toal within the first 11 minutes after the restart effectively putting the game beyond Doncaster’s reach.

A yellow card to Kesik for a high tackle then left the visitors temporarily down to 12 and they were perhaps fortunate not to have Brad Nicholson get anything more than a ticking off from referee Tom Crashley after getting into a personal war with Barrow’s hard-charging replacement prop Brad Brennan.

Fleming’s second try, plus one for Karl Ashall and a deserved score for Fieldhouse sealed the win – the latter of which saw Liam Harrison convert from in front of the posts on his final home appearance for the club.

Harrison will at least have one more chance to say goodbye to the Craven Park faithful in his testimonial, although it was the last home hurrah for Hankinson, Bate and Cameron Pitman, who are leaving at the end of the season.

The perfect way for them all to go out would be with a promotion party in Toulouse. Now the question is whether or not they can realise that ambition.

Barrow Raiders: Ryan Fieldhouse; Eze Harper, Cameron Pitman, Max Wiper, Chris Fleming; Chris Hankinson, Jamie Dallimore; Joe Bullock, Karl Ashall, Oliver Wilkes, Liam Harrison, Danny Morrow, Martin Aspinwall. Interchange: Nathan Mossop, Dan Toal, Brad Brennan, Anthony Bate.

Doncaster: Tom Carr; David Foggin-Johnston, Sam Doherty, Jason Tali, Louis Sheriff; Jordan Howden, Jordie Hedges; Zac Braham, Kyle Kesik, Connor Scott, Mason Tonks, Brad Nicholson, George Milton. Interchange: Ryan Wright, Mark Castle, Iafeta Palea'asina, Makali Aizue.