BARROW Raiders head coach Paul Crarey has praised the ‘brave effort’ of his side following their 38-16 defeat away to Olympique Toulouse.

Paul Crarey’s side raced into an 10-16 lead after half an hour courtesy of two tries from Andrew Bulman and one from Luke Broadbent but found themselves six points down at the interval.

A scrappy start to the second half then saw Raiders fall further behind as James Roumanos scored on 44 minutes.

Jake Shorrocks then added to the lead by converting his second try of the day and he was on hand once more to add to the host’s lead.

Ryan Rivett then put the game beyond doubt to seal Toulouse’s fourth win of the season by touching down in the 77th minute.

“I thought it was a brave effort for what we had out,’ Crarey told the club website post-match.

‘We started the game extremely well and shot into the lead by playing some great football, but then four errors cost is four tries.

“We’ve lost nearly a full pack that haven’t come over here. Mike Costello had to play at loose forward and Ryan Shaw played second row.

"They’ve got some quality and size, which made them difficult to handle.

“These kinds of sides punish you. You’ve got to be relentless, and we weren’t in the second half.

"94 per cent completions in the first half was outstanding, but we then went six points down.

“In the second half they had a mountain of possession and territory.

“I thought if the lads committed to it, we could have come here and got the result.”

 The result leaves Raiders positioned 10th in the Betfred Championship.