On Saturday Crusaders Touch had their second crack at competitive Touch Rugby in a competition run by Yorkshire Thorns.
Having competed in the high standard Northern Cup a month earlier, and finishing bottom of the pile, Crusaders went looking only to improve and learn more about this high paced, none contact version of the game.
To improve Crusaders knew they would need to improve defensively whilst also picking up their skill levels in attack.
Crusaders were in Group B which contained a mix of experienced Touch Rugby outfits such as Manchester Chargers, Yorkshire Thorns A and Blackadder, relatively new sides like ourselves and Driffield A and those who were like we were only a month ago, Wakefield Warriors, who were entering for the first time.
Blackadders were up first for Crusaders and their experience shone through, catching Crusaders on the back foot with a very pacey game. Crusaders did, however, pick up in the back end of the game and were unlucky not to register a score having been touched in the act of placing the ball down twice.
Next up was Manchester Chargers, a side we had played in the Northern Cup, and were right royally thumped, so we were interested to see how this one panned out. This game was a little more even than the previous encounter, and Crusaders were able to cause some pressure of our own and we were happy to come away with a respectable 3 nil defeat to the Northern Cup runners ups.
Our third match was against Wakefield Warriors and Crusaders managed to take their first ever competitive win in a tight encounter.
Next up was Driffield A who we played our first ever competitive match against in the Northern Cup. On that day Crusaders were no match for Driffield and were comprehensively beaten. On Saturday it was an extremely tight affair and Crusaders were lucky to come away with a win, with Driffield having 2 tries disallowed in a great game.
Our last group game was against Yorkshire Thorns A, who were just far too fast for the flagging Crusaders and we were comprehensively beaten.
We had, however, done enough to make it through to the Shield play off's, more than where our initial expectations had placed us.
In the play off's, we first met Yorkshire Thorns B, who, like their A team, just completely out paced a tired Crusaders. That then left us with Featherstone Rovers in the Shield 3rd Place Play Off's. Another tight game ensued, but Featherstone were too good on the day and took the spoils.
Crusaders had a great day at an extremely well run competition by the hosts, and managed to finish a respectable 8th in the overall standings which is a massive improvement from our first competition. We look forward to our next one.
If you are interested in getting involved in our Touch Rugby set up, please call Jason on 07969001028 or email crusaders_chairman@outlook.com