Wolfpack bash Barrow in top-of-table rugby league clash
Toronto improves to 8-0-0 with win over previously unbeaten Raiders
The Toronto Wolfpack improved to 8-0-0 Saturday, reeling off 70 unanswered points to bash the previously unbeaten Barrow Raiders 70-2 in a top-of-the-table rugby league showdown short on drama.
Barrow (7-1-0) fielded a depleted side with four players unable to make the trip to Canada due to visa issues. And unlike the fully professional Wolfpack, the Raiders are a semi-pro side.
Barrow went ahead 2-0 on a fifth-minute penalty kick, but Toronto scored seven tries — four in nine minutes late in the half — to lead 40-2 at the end of a first half that saw the Wolfpack make three goalline stands to stave off the visitors.
Toronto continued with its stingy defence and added five more tries and 30 points in the second half before an announced attendance of 7,144 at Lamport Stadium.
Quentin Laulu-Togaga'e scored three tries and Ryan Brierley had two for Toronto. Blake Wallace, Ryan Bailey, Andrew Dixon, Gary Wheeler, Greg Worthington, Sean Penkywicz and Shaun Pick added singles. Wolfpack captain Craig Hall kicked 11 conversions.
Lewis Charnock kicked a penalty for Barrow, who despite the lopsided score managed some decent defence.
The first-year Wolfpack, rugby's first transatlantic team, have started life in the Kingstone Press League 1 — the third tier of English rugby league. Their goal is to win promotion to the second-tier Championship and then the elite Super League.