Barrow Raiders 38 London Skolars 18

Tee Ritson and Danny Morrow each scored twice for Barrow Raiders, as they kicked off their season by reaching the fourth round of the Coral Challenge Cup by beating a London Skolars side who proved hard to shake off.

A trip to Featherstone Rovers now awaits, where Raiders will look to upset the odds at Post Office Road in the same way they managed in what was easily the highlight of a disappointing 2019.

Storm Dennis didn’t stop the game from going ahead, but it did have an impact on it with a strong wind blowing towards Duke Street helping whoever was playing towards that end.

Barrow played in fits and starts at Craven Park, in what was their first outing of any sort for three weeks, but once they shook off a few cobwebs, it was they who had the greater firepower.

The Skolars had the wind at their backs in the first half, but a handling error gifted the Raiders their first try in the 14th minute when Richard Wilkinson fumbled a kick ahead by Jamie Dallimore, who following up to hack on the loose ball before touching down.

He narrowly missed out on converting his own try, as the hosts looked to go in for the kill after the visitors had Mike Greenhalgh sin-binned for taking out Jordan Walne off the ball.

Instead, London hit back when Hammond dived in at the corner off Dalton Grant’s pass, with Neil Thorman landing a superb goal from the touchline to put the depleted visitors 6-4 ahead.

Their lead didn’t last long, however, as Dan Toal surged down the middle, shrugging off a couple of tackles, before his pass sent Danny Morrow under the posts.

Barrow had their third try after 32 minutes when Perry Singleton took the ball on off the last tackle and somehow got his off-load away to send Ritson diving over.

The Skolars quickly closed the gap, though, when Jacob Thomas sold a dummy before sauntering through a gap and Thorman converted for 14-12, which is how the score remained at half-time.

Ritson extended the lead seven minutes after the restart when he took Thorman’s hanging kick just inside his own 20-metre line before breaking clear and just about getting over, despite Iliess Macani’s best efforts.

Dallimore judged the wind perfectly to convert, but the match was put back in the balance again when a horrible bounce did for Luke Cresswell, allowing Thorman to follow up his own kick to score, with his conversion bringing the gap down to two points.

Wartovo Puara managed to settle a few nerves four minutes later when he slipped through to go over soon after stepping back off the bench, following a good carry from Jono Smith.

Finally, the match was put to bed with six minutes left when Ryan Johnston got the ball away for the charging Ryan Duffy to score under the posts.

There was still time for one last try, just as the rain set in, as Puara moved the ball right for Cresswell, whose final pass gave Morrow an easy run-in off the final play of the match.

Barrow Raiders: Cresswell, Ritson, Hulme, Singleton, S Toal, Dallimore, Johnston, Duffy, Puara, Forster, Smith, Morrow, Walne.

Interchange: Tyson, D Toal, Jewitt, Hopkins.

Tries: Dallimore 14, Morrow 24, 80 Ritson 32, 47, Puara 67, Duffy 74

Goals: Dallimore (5)

London Skolars: Macani, Yates, Clarke, Pearce-Paul, Hammond, Wilkinson, Thomas, Ross, Thorman, Charalambous, Grant, Greenhalgh, Bishay.

Interchange: North, Hobbs, Spearing, Cane.

Tries: Hammond 21, Thomas 35, Thorman 63

Goals: Thorman (3)

Referee: Brad Milligan

Attendance: 769

Raiders star man: Danny Morrow