Crusaders slay Knights
Crusaders ran in 10 tries at York to take their place in the last 16 of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.
Last Updated: 18/04/10 7:33pm
Crusaders ran in 10 tries at York to take their place in the last 16 of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.
Rhys Hanbury, Jason Chan and substitute Lloyd White scored two tries apiece as the Welsh side set up a home tie against Catalans Dragons in the last 16.
Knights assistant coach Chris Thorman demonstrated his pedigree on the field after spells with Hull, Huddersfield, London Broncos, Sheffield and Australian side Parramatta Eels, as he led his team in their first encounter with Engage Super League opposition.
But Thorman's undoubted class was not enough as York were run ragged at times by a powerful display, with Michael Witt in particular catching the eye.
A simple line movement involving Lincoln Withers, Peter Lupton and Clinton Schifcofske saw centre Hanbury crash over the line to score after only two minutes.
York quickly hit back with Jonathan Schofield touching down Joe McLocklan's defence-splitting kick, but this was the signal for Crusaders to cut loose as their pace and power told.
Nick Youngquest jumped high to gather and score despite the challenge of Knights youngster Tom Lineham before Jamie Thackray burst through tackles in typically powerful fashion to touch down by the posts.
Too strong
Second-row forward Chan proved too strong for would-be tacklers to keep the scoreboard ticking over, and Hanbury added his second score of the afternoon shortly before the break.
Substitute White quickly added a further try and a barnstorming run from rugby union legend Gareth Thomas was carried forward by man-of the-match Witt, before an offload saw Ben Flower score.
White added his second from a rebound off a York player and Thomas had the crowd on their feet again with a powerful and pacy length-of-the-field run to score under the posts.
Lupton then evaded the tackles to offload for Chan to crash over, but York had the final word as McLocklan and Danny Hill combined for winger Dennis Tuffour to score a well-deserved consolation try.
