Dewsbury Rams were victorious against local rivals Batley Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon, winning the heavy woollen derby 23-20 at the Tetley’s Stadium.
Whilst the visitors came up with two late tries to scare the Rams, it wasn’t enough for them to complete the comeback and Dewsbury in the end took the two points.
The first ten minutes were a tight affair but it was Batley who scored the first try on the 9th minute, Brad Day ghosted through a gap in the Rams defence to score. Ex-Dewsbury player Pat Walker was doing the kicking for the away side, he missed his first conversion kick, that put the score at Dewsbury 0-4 Batley.
Dewsbury didn’t have to wait long though for their first points of the game and those came on the 14th minute when Lucas Walahaw smashed his way through the Bulldogs defence to score his first try of the afternoon. Paul Sykes was as ever on hand to kick the conversion and add the two points, taking the score to 6-4 to Dewsbury.
Batley were determined to make it a difficult game for the Rams, and the visitors scored again just three minutes after Walshaw’s try. Alistair leak managed to find his way through the Rams defence to dive over the whitewash. Walker made sure he didn’t miss with the conversion this time, that put the Bulldogs ahead.
The scores stayed the same until half time, even though both teams could have added to their tally before the hooter for the break. The best chance fell to Michael Knowles, but a forward pass to him from a Rams player stopped Knowles in his tracks.
The second half started well for the Rams and they were back ahead with just six second half minutes played. New signing Adam Ryder grabbed his second try for the club as he once again showed his power when crossing the line to score. Sykes converted the kick to add the extra two points and the Rams were back in the lead.
The next part of the fixture was dominated by Dewsbury, a magnificent move and try was scored by Gareth Potts on the 52nd minute, again Sykes added the extras. Walshaw then crashed over the whitewash for his second try of the day, taking the score up to 22-10, Sykes unfortunately missed his conversion on that attempt.
Knowles did get his name on the score sheet on the 72nd minute when his close range drop goal flew between the sticks to give the Rams an extra point, meaning the score now stood at 23-10.
A late charge from the visitors left Rams fans on tenterhooks, Batley scored two late tries in the game, the first coming from Alex Bretherton, the second came from Pat Walker himself. Walker could only convert one of his kicks leaving the Bulldogs three points short of the Rams tally. However the home side held on and grabbed a vital two points to end a terrific derby game.
Next week Dewsbury head to France where they will face Toulouse in the final fixture of the regular season before the super 8 games.
