Dewsbury Rams were victorious over the Widnes Vikings on Sunday, winning 25-24 over the former Betfred Super League outfit.
The Rams really took it to the Vikings who so far this season have been unbeaten at home, in fact they haven’t lost a home Championship league game since 2011. A drop goal kick by Liam Finn was the decisive point scored on Sunday for Dewsbury.
It was the Rams who scored the first try of the afternoon, with Luke Hooley finding a gap in the Widnes defence, he went to score on the right hand side of the posts. Liam Finn was doing the kicking for Dewsbury on the day, but missed his first conversion attempt. Before the Rams scored the try Danny Craven was sin-binned for holding down in a tackle.
By this point Dewsbury were really pilling on the pressure with various attacks coming to an end in one way or another, but all were getting close to the Widnes line. Then on the 17th minute, Dewsbury then scored another try, Daniel Igbinedion grabbed the ball on the halfway line, he sprinted away from the Widnes defence and slid over the whitewash in style underneath the posts. Finn this time did convert the kick for the extra’s taking the score to 10-0 to the Rams.
Two minutes later the home side scored their first try of the afternoon, Jack Owens grabbing his first of three tries on the day. Owens then kicked the extra two points meaning the score was now 10-6 to Dewsbury.
The home side really started to now put the pressure on the Rams back line, however some big defensive efforts held the Vikings at bay.
It was the Rams who scored the next try with what could be considered as the try of the match on the 32nd minute. Tom Garratt made a superb breakaway run which got the team deep into Widnes territory, an off load pass to Adam Ryder and then a pass to Andy Gabriel on the wing meant he then had space to finish off an outstanding move. Finn couldn’t convert the kick for the two points, meaning the score was now 14-6 to Dewsbury.
The Rams were then again put under increasing pressure for the rest of the half by Widnes, two tries came before halftime for the home side, both scored by Owens who also converted both his kicks. That left the half time tally at 18-14 to Widnes, and after what was a great half by Dewsbury it was unfortunate to be going in at the interval losing.
The first try of the second half came on the 57th minute when Gabriel finished off a clever move in the left hand corner, diving for the line he planted the ball over the whitewash, Finn missed the conversion meaning the score was now 18-18.
Widnes took the lead again ten minutes later when Craven dived over the whitewash for his try, Owens again converted his kick to put the Vikings 24-18 up.
However the game wasn’t finished there, as Finn managed to connect with Simon Brown’s kick through on the 74th minute to score a try. Finn this time converted the kick again putting the game level at 24-24.
With two minutes remaining in the game the Rams went for a drop goal attempt, the ball coming to Finn who kicked through the posts for a point. The Rams hung on in during the dying seconds of the match to get a well deserved victory.
