Rams suffer heavy defeat at Odsal as Bradford Bulls run in eight tries.
A new era started at Odsal for the Rams as new Head Coach Liam Finn took charge of the side for the very first time and gave debuts to three new players who joined the club mid-week, hoping to help the Rams pick up only their third league victory of the season.
The game started in a tense fashion with both sides opting to go for the high ball in what was a swirling Bradford wind. It was the home side who scored first through Ryan Millar who caught a looping ball to score in the corner, which Dec Patton converted. The Rams responded well to going behind and found themselves in several good positions in the next fifteen minutes but unfortunately couldn’t get over.
The Rams then got the score that their pressure deserved with twenty-seven minutes gone. A looping pass saw Andy Gabriel score his fifth try of the season and when Paul Sykes converted, this brought the two sides level with the Rams looking the stronger of the two. More pressure was applied to the Bradford line shortly after the try and a clever kick by Sykes forced the home team to drop out. Immediately following the play Millar was shown a yellow card for Bradford for deliberately kicking the ball away.
However, instead of helping the Rams, it seemed to give the home side a boost as in the final minutes of the half, as they scored two converted tries from Elliot Kear and Chester Butler, both of which were converted by Patton and gave Bradford a twelve-point half-time lead.
Being behind two scores at the break, the Rams knew that the first try of the second half was going to be critical and unfortunately it was the home side that got it, when Butler scored his second of the afternoon, wriggling through from close range. Once again though the Rams fought back well and had plenty of pressure on the Bulls line but just couldn’t get over to try and get back in the game. Going into the final twenty minutes, a tired Rams side conceded four more tries through Keiran Gill, Steve Crossley, Jordan Lilley and Samy Kibula.
After the game Head Coach Liam Finn said, “I didn’t take the job because I thought it was going to be easy, I’m not going to sort out things in three training sessions, it’s going to be a project and if we keep on doing the right things, we can hopefully turn this around.”
“As much as the score line blew out today there was plenty of good things for us to work on, the attitude today was really good and it’s been good all week, I’m positive about what I can do with this group.”
Another tough test ahead for the Rams next weekend, as we return to action against Halifax Panthers at the Tetley’s Stadium on Sunday 3rd July.
Bradford Bulls (48): Kear, Foggin-Johnson, Dawson-Jones, Gill, Millar, Patton, Lilley, Scurr, Doyle, Crossley, Butler, Wallace, Hallas.
Interchanges: Flanagan, Baldwinson, Kibula, Walker.
Tries: Millar (9’), Kear (38’), Butler (40’, 42’), Gill (60’), Lilley (76’), Kibula (78’)
Conversions: Patton (7/7)
Yellow Card: Millar (33’)
Dewsbury Rams (6): Turner, Blackmore, Dixon, Ryder, Gabriel, Sykes, Gill, Beckett, Butterworth, Kidd, Garside, Knowles, Blagbrough.
Interchanges: Speakman, Schofield, Kirby, Walker.
Tries: Gabriel (27’)
Conversions: Sykes (1/1)
