{"id":687652,"date":"2026-01-10T22:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/687652\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T22:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:31:12","slug":"shane-toal-scores-testimonial-double-as-barrow-raiders-thrash-scotland-total-rugby-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/687652\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Toal scores testimonial double as Barrow Raiders thrash Scotland \u2013 Total Rugby League"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BARROW RAIDERS 74 SCOTLAND 6<\/strong>
PADDY McATEER, Northern Competitions Stadium, Saturday<\/strong><\/p>\n

BARROW showed no mercy on the Scots as they ran up a massive score in Shane Toal\u2019s testimonial game.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toal, who has given over eleven years\u2019 service to his hometown club, played the first half for Barrow and the second half for Scotland, for whom he has been capped three times.<\/p>\n

Raiders coach Paul Crarey started with a strong 13 in preparation for next weekend\u2019s opening fixture at home to Workington, and a gulf in class to a side of mostly Scottish domestic-based players was soon evident.<\/p>\n

The scoreboard was ticking over as early as the sixth minute when, following a penalty for a high tackle on Tee Ritson, Ellis Robson dotted the ball down. Play swept upfield through several hands for Ryan Johnston to provide the pass for the former Keighley player.<\/p>\n

Then the testimonial man himself went in for try number two. A deep kick downfield from Scotland was in the hands of Tee Ritson well inside his one half, and he hogged the touchline before parting to Johnston who unselfishly saw Toal in support to touch down.<\/p>\n

Within three minutes a long ball caught the visitors outnumbered wide and strolling over the line was Luke Broadbent.<\/p>\n

Brad Walker added all three conversions, but was unsuccessful with the next four minutes later after several players were involved for Toal to release Ritson who rounded the cover to score for 22-0.<\/p>\n

Scotland, starved of possession early on, came to life with some good play. Lewis Clarke and Barrow-born Max Anderson-Moore combined to send Jacob Grierson to the line only for the cover to halt his progress.<\/p>\n

Then strong play saw Kieran Moran held inches short, and from the play-the-ball the attack fizzled out as Millomite Connor Terrill lost possession.<\/p>\n

A counter attack saw Barrow increase their lead, as Johnston and Robson linked with the former getting the try and Broadbent adding the goal.<\/p>\n

And Broadbent was soon touching down for his second after good work from Matty Costello, making it 32-0.<\/p>\n

On the half-hour mark, Ellis Archer made a telling break parting to Broadbent and Toal was over the line for his second of the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Archer, having taken over kicking duties unsuccessfully after the previous try, then added the first of seven goals in succession.<\/p>\n

A further Scotland attack broke down when Clarke\u2019s long ball to Cam Cullen flew into touch and Barrow rounded off the first half when Andrew Bulman weaved in and out of the cover to cross by the posts for 44-0.<\/p>\n

Toal, fresh from swapping teams (Max Anderson-Moore did likewise in the other direction), went close following Scottish pressure.<\/p>\n

Patience paid off on 52 minutes when Grierson crashed over from close range for their first points and Jordan Duncan converted.<\/p>\n

Barrow, despite having senior players off, stepped up a gear as the visitors ran out of steam. Ritson made a midfield break and on his shoulder was Luke Cresswell, whose converted try brought up 50 points.<\/p>\n

Archer was next to cross the line, feeding off a Cresswell break, before Ritson went in for his second and Cresswell broke from inside his own half to grow the tally to 68-6.<\/p>\n

Toal again went close before departing to a fine round of applause. Without him, the Scots had an improved spell with Terrill held short prior to Joey Clarkson being held up over the line.<\/p>\n

Cresswell then completed his 14-minute hat-trick for Archer to round off the scoring.<\/p>\n

GAMESTAR:<\/strong> Ellis Robson worked hard in attack and defence.<\/p>\n

GAMEBREAKER:<\/strong> Barrow took charge from the start, laying a strong platform to dominate.<\/p>\n

MATCHFACTS<\/p>\n

RAIDERS<\/strong>
1 Luke Cresswell
5 Luke Broadbent
4 Curtis Teare
3 Shane Toal
25 Tee Ritson
6 Brad Walker
7 Ryan Johnston
8 Tom Walker
9 Josh Wood
10 Joe Bullock
11 Ellis Robson
12 Matty Costello
13 Ryan King
Subs (all used)
16 Greg Richards
15 Charlie Emslie
17 Alex Bishop
2 Andrew Bulman
21 Trent Ruddy
19 Seth Woodend
20 Dan Knott
30 Fin Dutton-Rosconie
33 Stevie Watson
\u2013 Ellis Archer
\u2013 Max Anderson-Moore<\/p>\n

Tries:<\/strong> Robson (6), Toal (10, 30), Broadbent (13, 25), Ritson (16, 69), Johnston (22), Bulman (39), Cresswell (63, 71, 77), Archer (65)
Goals:<\/strong> B Walker 3\/4, Broadbent 1\/1, Archer 7\/8<\/p>\n

SCOTLAND<\/strong>
1 Max Anderson-Moore
2 Cam Cullen
3 Shaun Callan
4 Jacob Grierson
5 Andrew Brown
6 George Shannon
7 Lewis Clarke
8 Connor Terrill
9 Jordan Duncan
10 Kieran Moran
11 Seth Clapham
12 Gregor Cowan
13 Ollie Maher
Subs (all used)
14 Tom Murray
15 Joey Clarkson
16 Ben Sykes
17 Lucas-Anderson-Moore
18 Kris Illingworth
19 Shane Toal<\/p>\n

Tries:<\/strong> Grierson (52)
Goals:<\/strong> Duncan 1\/1<\/p>\n

SCORING SEQUENCE:<\/strong> 6-0, 12-0, 18-0, 22-0, 28-0, 32-0, 38-0, 44-0; 44-6, 50-6, 56-6, 62-6, 68-6, 74-6<\/p>\n

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match<\/strong>
Raiders:<\/strong> Ellis Robson; Scotland:<\/strong> Lewis Clarke<\/p>\n

Penalty count:<\/strong> 4-3
Half-time:<\/strong> 44-0
Referee:<\/strong> Carl Hughes
Attendance:<\/strong> 1,004<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BARROW RAIDERS 74 SCOTLAND 6PADDY McATEER, Northern Competitions Stadium, Saturday BARROW showed no mercy on the Scots as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-687652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-scotland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115873178205948327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}