Monday Night Lights debut ends in defeat for the Rams against the unbeaten Vikings.
It was Monday Night Lights at the Tetley’s Stadium as the Premier Sports cameras rolled into town alongside the visitors Widnes Vikings who were aiming to maintain their 100% start to the season, whilst the Rams were looking to build on last week’s victory over Sheffield Eagles.
The Rams started the match well and had some good attacking field position in the early stages although an injury to Calum Turner after two minutes did not help the cause.
Widnes then went in for their first try with Lloyd Roby collecting a chip over the top and going in under the posts, which Tyrer converted. There was then a further sustained spell of Widnes pressure, but the Rams held firm with a wonderful take from Andy Gabriel in the Rams’ in-goal area and a penalty shortly after helping the Rams up field.
The Rams then scored through Harry Kidd, a lovely dummy and break from Matty Beharrell setup Kidd who went crashing over, which Beharrell converted to level the scores.
Shortly after Widnes were back in front, following some play down the Widnes right, Roby grabbed his second try of the evening, which once again Tyrer converted.
Then just before the half time break Paul Sykes’ chip into the corner was met with a great leap from Gabriel who palmed back to send Keenen Tomlinson over to score. Unfortunately, Beharrell’s attempted conversion hit the post and that meant the Rams went into the break two points behind.
Shortly after the break, Widnes extended their lead as Adam Lawton broke down the wing and sent in Brad Holroyd to score, taking the Vikings’ lead to eight. The Rams then had a sustained spell of pressure culminating in what would’ve been one of the tries of the season. An excellent run by Adam Ryder put the Rams in a great position and a kick to the corner was met with an outstanding dive by Gabriel who sadly knocked on in the process.
From there on, it was all one-way Widnes traffic with three further converted tries from Dupree, Lyons and Lawton.
The Rams battled hard and had to contend with injuries to both Calum Turner and Brad Graham, as well as a late sinbinning for Jimmy Beckett but their effort never faulted throughout.
Rams Head Coach Lee Greenwood, speaking to Premier Sports afterwards, said “We were well in there, despite losing players who were unable to return to field, but we pretty much got everything wrong in the second half. We were starting our sets in good positions but then we’d give a penalty away or do something a bit wrong and it just relieved all pressure on Widnes. We have to get everything pretty right against teams like Widnes to have a chance and we didn’t today.”
Dewsbury Rams (10): Turner, Gabriel, Graham, Dixon, Carr, Beharrell, Sykes, Beckett, Speakman ©, Kidd, Tomlinson, Ryder, Magrin
Interchanges: Butterworth, Peltier, Stevens, Schofield
Tries: Kidd (23’), Tomlinson (39’)
Conversions: Beharrell (1/2)
Widnes Vikings (36): Roby, Ince, Fleming, Tyrer, Holroyd, Lyons, Smith, Baker, Fozard, Dupree, Wilde, Davies, Brown
Interchanges: Doro, Grady, Lawton, Hulme
Tries: Roby (7’), Roby (30’) Holroyd (45’), Dupree (62’), Lyons (71’), Lawton (77’)
Conversions: Tyrer (6/6)
Attendance: 2503
Rams Man of the Match as chosen by YBS was Jon Magrin.
Our next game sees us travel up to Cumbria on Sunday for our Fourth Round Challenge Cup clash with Workington Town, kick-off 14:00.
