Dewsbury Rams won their second game of the season when they defeated Featherstone Rovers on their own patch. With the victory the Rams stay 9th in the league but move on to five points.
The Rams charged out of the blocks early on and put the home side under sustained pressure for the first five minutes, with Featherstone struggling to get out of their own half. It was on the 6th minute when Dewsbury scored their first try of the afternoon, Paul Sykes chipped the ball into Liam Finn’s hands, Finn then battled for the line and went over it to score his first try back at the club. Sykes converted the kick for the two extra points to take the score to 6-0 to Dewsbury.
The Rams nearly scored again two minutes later when Robbie Ward dived for the line, but this time he was denied and the score stayed at 6-0.
Featherstone were putting more and more pressure on the Rams, and they scored on the 15th minute. Luke Briscoe was passed the ball by Leeds teammate Ash Golding, and Briscoe dived over the line in the corner. Ex Dewsbury player Ben Reynolds was on kicking duty for the home side and he couldn’t draw the scores level as he missed the conversion.
Again Featherstone pressed and their pressure was rewarded with another try, this time on the 18th minute when Cameron King darted over the line on the last tackle. This time Reynolds converted his kick to score the extra two points, putting the score at 10-6 to Featherstone.
It only took the Rams three minutes to level the scores up, Dale Morton finishing off what was a fantastic move from Dewsbury. Robbie Ward and Luke Hooley broke quickly and gained large metres up the field. The ball eventually came out to Morton on the wing who expertly finished off the move in the left hand corner. Sykes couldn’t convert and the scores now stood at 10-10.
The game then became scrappy and whilst Dewsbury were showing good defence, neither side could break the deadlock. However with five minutes to go until the half time hooter, Morton grabbed his second try of the afternoon. A slick move that involved Finn, Hooley and Ryder was then finished off by Morton again in the corner. Finn this time had a go at kicking the conversion, but he missed his kick, meaning the score at half time was Featherstone Rovers 10-14 Dewsbury Rams.
Dewsbury started the second half very much like they had started the first, and they scored with in two minutes of the re-start, Sammy Kibula smashed his way through Featherstone’s defence to score a super try. The conversion was kicked by Sykes as he stretched the Rams lead to 20 points to 10.
Featherstone started to play some slick moves and scored on the 50th minute when Ash Golding went over the whitewash, Reynolds converted the kick to make it 16-20 to Dewsbury.
Just three minutes later the Rams went behind as Featherstone grabbed another try, this time it was Reynolds who scored himself, he also converted the kick, putting the scores at 22-20 to the Rams. Sykes was sin-binned for dissent after Reynolds put his kick through the posts.
It was starting to feel like another one of those games, however on the 64th minute Michael Knowles came up with a brilliant try in the corner following a good move from a number of Dewsbury players. As Sykes was off the field it was left for Finn to convert the kick, he duly added the two points, now putting the score at 26-22 to Dewsbury.
With twelve minutes to go Sam Day ducked down low from close range to score what was the final try of the afternoon. Sykes converted the kick having returned the field of play, meaning the final score was Featherstone 22-32 Dewsbury Rams.
Up next for Dewsbury is a fourth round Challenge Cup tie at home to West Hull.
Photograph- Credit- Freelance photographer Rob Hare
