SHANE Toal ran in two tries as Barrow Raiders battled to a 28-0 victory over York City Knights in the first Kingstone Press League One game of the season.

A wet and windy night at Craven Park produced little in the way of fast-flowing rugby, but the Raiders did what was required to ensure they overcame a youthful York team which had been hastily-assembled ahead of the 2017 campaign getting under way.

Winger Toal crossed once in either half, and Danny Morrow, Luke Cresswell and Lewis Charnock were on hand to grab single scores as well. At the other end, York rarely threatened and when they did, they were undone by errors and some strong defence.

The Raiders enjoyed some strong early sets, keeping York pinned mainly in their own half, although it needed a try-saving tackle from Fieldhouse on Edward Smith to prevent him from opening the scoring after eight minutes.

Three minutes later, Barrow broke the deadlock when Danny Morrow battered his way through to score under the posts following a strong run from Joe Bullock, with Lewis Charnock kicking the conversion.

Cresswell followed him over on 17 minutes, finishing off a well-worked move involving Charnock, Jamie Dallimore and Ryan Fieldhouse with an unconverted try out wide.

Then Jarrad Stack put the Raiders firmly in control with their third try four minutes later, jumping above the York defence to pluck a high kick from Charnock out of the air and score behind the posts, giving the ex-St Helens half-back a simple conversion.

Toal finished off another good move on the half hour mark, with Fieldhouse finding him with a cut-out pass to go over in the corner after the York defence had been sucked in.

But the game became something of an arm-wrestle, with handling errors creeping in for both sides. Tempers were starting to become frayed as well and there were a couple of confrontations.

However, the burgeoning partnership between Declan Hulme and Toal yielded another try for the latter seven minutes from time and Charnock added one of his own on 78 minutes – only to somehow miss what seemed a relatively easy conversion.

Barrow Raiders: Ryan Fieldhouse; Shane Toal, Declan Hulme, Andy Litherland, Luke Cresswell; Jamie Dallimore, Luke Cresswell; Joe Bullock, Nathan Mossop, Ollie Wilkes, Danny Morrow, Jarrad Stack, Martin Aspinwall. Interchange: Dan Abram, Andrew Dawson, Tom Walker, Bradd Crellin.

York City Knights: Ashley Robson; Thomas Brierley, Neville Morrison, Joe Batchelor, David Foggin-Johnston; Harry Tyson-Wilson, Daniel Sowerby; Adam Robinson, Harry Carter, Keiran Moran, Bradley Hey, Edward Smith, Timothy Spear. Interchange: Joseph Porter, Patrick Smith, Liam Thompson, Ronan Dixon.

Referee: Andy Sweet.