WHITEHAVEN Rugby League have suffered a defeat against North Wales Crusaders.
The West Cumbrian side were beaten by the Welsh outfit in their recent game on Sunday, March 29.
Haven travelled away to Colwyn Bay to take on the Crusaders.
Coach James Newton said: "I thought in the first ten to 15 minutes we started the game really strong.
"I said they were going to challenge us physically, and that's definitely what they did.
"As I say in the first ten to fifteen minutes, I thought we were really good, then after 15 to 20 minutes, Ellison made a half break, and I personally thought he got dragged into touch.
"But obviously, the referee gave North Wales the ball there.
"We then had a sustained period of `15 to 20 minutes, where defensively we went very soft, we were missing one-on-one tackles, as I say, we just couldn't stop that momentum there for 15 minutes in that first half.
"Decisions might not go your way in a game, but it's how you react to them. Nobody is 22 points better than you, whether it's a bad decision or a good decision; we need to find a way to react to that.
"The men knew exactly what they'd done in the first half. We were defensively very soft.
"We weren't shirt-grabbing. There was no shoulder contact, but they came out at halftime, and there was a bit of reaction there in the second half.
"We played some half-decent stuff, and we were better defensively at times, so you can take some positives out of today, but you can't cover over 52 points.
"I asked for a bit of reaction from the boys at half-time, and we got that. We wanted something to take into next week.
"We fixed it up in the second half. We think we had another ten-minute period in the second half where they got another three tries, but there was a reaction, and one thing those boys in there always do is fight."
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