Whitehaven were well beaten 52-20 at Colwyn Bay as North Wales Crusaders welcomed new coach Kylie Leulaui in style.
For Whitehaven the deciding phase was in the game’s second quarter, between the 21st and 35th minutes when Crusaders scored four tries to build a 22-0 half-time lead.
That grew to 40-0 in the second half before Whitehaven scored three tries themselves to close the gap but a complete comeback was never on the cards.
It was a disappointing end to what had started in promising fashion for the Cumbrians as they more than matched their hosts in the first 20 minutes.
Once Jordy Gibson had bemused the Haven defence on 21 minutes with the opening try, it became a horror show for James Newton’s men.
Luke Forber followed up a kick from Dec Patton to score the second five minutes later; Junior Westwood weaved his way through the Haven defence on 29 minutes and the first-half scoring was rounded off four minutes before the break when Westwood sliced through for his second try.
The Crusaders continued from where they left off with three more tries in the first ten minutes of the second-half.
Brad England (43), Anthony Walker (46) and Patton (49) took the game completely away from Haven after the break, with Patton converting them all.
Whitehaven did show some response and intent with three tries of their own to give the scoreline more respectability.
Jack Newbegin dummied his way through on 52 minutes; four minutes later Ethan Bickerdike went in and on 59 minutes it was Newbegin again who went in for the third try, two of which were converted by Ciaran Walker.
But normal service was resumed with tries from Mark Ioane (65) and Bailey Pemberton (78) while in between Jay Weatherill scored a fourth try for Haven which went unconverted.
It wasn’t the best preparation for the Good Friday derby with Workington but neither was Town’s, beaten 38-8 at Newcastle Thunder.
