Barrow Raiders fought hard to overcome a strong all-round Toulouse Olympique side who ran in seven tries to one from the home side in their 36-6 victory at Craven Park yesterday.

It was the Raiders’ sole try of the afternoon that was the pick of the bunch. Trailing 8-0 on 10 minutes, Luke Cresswell set their game alight with a spectacular 75-yard effort.

The full back, doing what he does best, was on the shoulder of Tee Ritson who had cleared his line from a kick through.

Cresswell then had the 1,400 spectators inside the ground roaring him on as he raced downfield and although he was trailed by several defenders, he beat them all to the line.

Barrow can thank York for snatching a late try to beat Dewsbury 24-21 to keep them in the battle to get away from the relegation places come the end of term.

Looking ahead to next week’s trip to Dewsbury, head coach Paul Crarey said: “This team were busted after three games inside eight days. We knew we were always going to struggle against a full time side so I am not too disappointed.

“We go to Dewsbury next week, which is a massive game for both teams, but we have to concentrate on ourselves, we have to work hard and refresh for that one.

“Two or three decisions went against us - how can [Jamie] Dallimore knock-on facing his own line? Jonathon Ford was good for them spraying the ball around and slipping inside balls.

“We did well restricting them to just two tries in the second half, we fixed a few things up.

“There are no easy games in the Championship. We had a few knocks and had to shuffle and we will have a look at the lads tomorrow and have a light session on Tuesday.”