BARROW RAIDERS head coach Paul Crarey said he was 'happy to get through it' after the side’s first pre-season friendly, and Nathan Mossop's testimonial, ended in victory.

Crarey called some of the rugby his side played in the 52-24 win against North Wales Crusaders 'outstanding' but insisted there is much to do in the build-up to the 2023 Championship season.

Crarey said: "I thought we did well – played in maybe 10-minute blocks, really, where we played with intensity.

"We were a bit sloppy all over, in terms of shape, in terms of ruck speed.

"I thought the game was slow. I spoke to Carl (Forster – Crusaders' head coach) about it, and he said 'well that’s quick for us'.

"But for us watching it, to Championship standard, it was slow.

"We've got to rise above being slow, and create our own ruck speed, and line speed, and play with intensity.

READ MORE: Barrow Raiders crush the Crusaders to take win

"We were happy with some of the tries – they were outstanding.

"It was my fault if we didn't complete because I said they've got to go out there and play and express themselves like we did last year.

"We dropped down to about 68 per cent completion in the first half but in the second half, we got up to about 86/87 – we played some good stuff and scored some great tries, and everybody played everywhere.

"We had wingers playing back row, centres playing pivot, and everybody mixing and matching.

"So it was pretty difficult to control everything and we lacked structure but to put 50-odd points on in the first game back is probably outstanding but we've got to be better next week when Workington come to town and improve in all areas.

"And we’ve only got two sessions to do that in so every second counts in the build-up to Toulouse at home, to get better.

"We've got some more players coming back next week that missed out today – Luke Cresswell and people like that that didn't play, and they add more to our structure.

"We're happy to get through it – I thought we had a little injury to Ben Evans at the end there, I was a bit concerned, but he got up and carried on and created a great try."