Dewsbury Rams were victorious against Sheffield Eagles on Friday night by beating them 30-20 at the Olympic Legacy Park.
The victory leaves the Rams seven points above the drop zone and only three points behind Batley who sit in third position in the Championship Shield table.
The game was extremely tight for the first twenty minutes, but it was the Rams who opened the scoring first on the 24th minute. Adam Ryder bulldozed his way through the Rams to place the ball over the line in the left corner.
Paul Sykes was as always on hand to add the extra two points when he successfully converted his kick, to make the score 0-6 to Dewsbury.
The Eagles began to put real pressure on Dewsbury’s back line, and although for the most part the Rams held a strong defence, it was broken through twice before the half time hooter was sounded.
The first of the tries came on the 30th minute mark when Josh Toole bundled his way through the Rams defence to score in the right hand corner. Oscar Thomas was on kicking duty for the Eagles, however he missed his first chance to grab the extra points with the kick.
The home sides second try came two minutes before the break, the Rams drop out was collected by the Eagles who made good ground up the pitch, the ball eventually came to Iliess Macani on the wing who went on to score. This time Thomas did add the extra two points by converting his kick. That made the score 10-6 to Sheffield going into half time.
It only took the Rams four minutes after the break to go back in front, Brad Delaney raced away to score the first of his two tires of the night. Sykes converted the kick to add the two points meaning the score now stood at Dewsbury 12-10 Sheffield.
The Rams stretched their lead even further just two minutes later when Daniel Igbinedion stormed over the line to score. Sykes was again on point with the kick to add to the Rams tally.
Once again the Eagles tried to fight back but Dewsbury held strong throughout the pressure until the 68th minute. Oscar Thomas went over the whitewash for the Eagles to give them a glimmer of hope. Thomas converted the kick which put pressure on the Rams score.
However the hope of a comeback was squashed just four minutes later when again the Rams extended their lead. Two tries in the last ten minute all but ended the Eagles chance of winning the fixture.
The Rams first of the two tries came on the 72nd minute when Robbie Ward scrambled his way over the whitewash to place the ball down. The second try was scored by Brad Delaney who grabbed his second try of the night on the 76th minute. Sykes successfully converted both his kicks to make the score 30-16 to Dewsbury.
The Eagles did score again in the last minute of the match, but by that time the Rams knew they had clinched the two points. Macani once again went over in the corner to score, Thomas missed his conversion to put the final score at Sheffield 20-30 Dewsbury.
Next week the Rams take on Barrow Raiders at home at the Tetley’s Stadium 15:00pm kick off.
