Head coach Paul Crarey was pleased to see Barrow Raiders make hay while the sun shone as they blitzed Coventry Bears in the opening quarter of their 50-6 win at Craven Park.

Crarey has been asking his team to maintain a high tempo in the opening month of the season and they followed those instructions to the letter in scoring five tries in the opening 22 minutes, with Coventry simply unable to keep pace.

The scoring rate unsurprisingly dropped in the second half after a heavy shower, which slowed the game down and stopped Barrow’s backs from getting into the action as much.

Crarey said: “I thought we were outstanding in that first spell - we came out all guns blazing with the wind behind us and when the sun was shining.

“We knew the weather was going to close in and we’d have it all to do in the second half, so we started off well, put some points on the board - 36-0 going in at half-time - and we knew things would change from them in the second half. It always does.

“There would be spoiling tactics, laying on, looking for the sidelines, walking to scrums, just slowing the game down.

“We got dragged into it a little bit, but it was difficult to play and although we came up with some nice tries in the second half, we weren’t as fluent as the first half and we were never going to be.”

There was a downside to the Raiders’ second straight league win, as it came at the cost of several injuries.

“Crarey said: “Jordan Walne got a real bad bang and had double vision, so we’re a bit worried about him, and then Tom Hopkins got another bang round the head and then Jake Carter looks like he’s done his medial ligaments, so we’ve copped three players out.”