Rams battle hard to earn late victory against Midlands Hurricanes at Alexander Stadium.
With only five games left of the regular season the Rams headed to the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham looking to secure another victory against eighth-placed Midlands Hurricanes.
Despite what the league table may have suggested this was a bruising, battling encounter between the two sides from the get go and it was the home side who scored first through Todd Horner after the Rams spilt the ball close to their own line.
The Rams responded well though, applying pressure of their own and scored their first of the afternoon when Ollie Greensmith powered over from close range after the ball was worked well down the Rams left hand side.
Midlands proved that they weren’t going to be any push overs and extended their lead to eight points just after the ten-minute mark when Sheffield loanee Jason Bass scored in the corner and Ben Stead converted well.
The next twenty minutes or so were a slog between both teams, with neither side having an opportunity to score aside from a Bailey O’Connor break which sadly fizzled out. With just five minutes to go in the half the home side the extended their lead further with two penalty goals from Ben Stead just before the break.
With the strong wind at their backs in the second half, the Rams would have expected to use that to their advantage and get back in the game but the first real action of the second half came when Paul Sykes was sin-binned for a late hit on a Midlands player.
Being twelve points down and down to twelve men, the Rams could’ve buckled but instead got a quickfire double to bring them level. Firstly, Sam Day managed to burrow his way over from close range on his 100th career appearance and then Lewis Carr finished off a length of the field move after Perry Whiteley had intercepted a stray Midlands pass on his own line.
Midlands weren’t backing down at all and Liam Welham responded for the home side to give them the lead once again. The Rams fired straight back though to bring the scores level when Ollie Greensmith bundled his way over from close range for his second try of the afternoon.
Ben Stead then gave the home side a one-point lead with just over ten minutes remaining with a drop goal but the Rams won the game with a late try from Ronan Dixon who smashed his way over to give his side a valuable win in the quest for promotion.
After the game Rams Head Coach Liam Finn said, “That was a very tough game today, it was tough to watch but we managed to wheel our way over the line in the end and that’s the important thing.”
Our next game sees us back at FLAIR Stadium for a clash against North Wales Crusaders on Sunday 23rd July (15:00).
Midlands Hurricanes (23): Horner, Bass, M.Welham, Johnson, Freeman, Stead, Hookem, Richardson, Cullimore, Clavering, Beardsworth, L.Welham, Willis.
Interchanges: Windley, Wilkinson, Bowering, Moran, Brook (18th)
Tries: Horner (2’), Bass (11’), L.Welham (62’)
Conversions: Stead (3/3)
Penalty Goal: Stead (38’, 40’)
Drop Goal: Stead (63’)
Dewsbury Rams (28): Restall, Carr, O’Connor, Greensmith, Whiteley, Sykes, Turner, Walker, Butterworth, Maher, Garside, Beckett, Collinson.
Interchanges: Day, R.Dixon, Morris, Davies, Summers (18th)
Tries: Greensmith (8’, 64), Day (54’), Carr (58’), Dixon (74’)
Conversions: Sykes (2/3), Turner (2/2)
Yellow Card: Sykes (52’)
