Dewsbury Rams picked up their first victory of the Betfred Championship season with a 12-10 win against Mark Aston’s Sheffield Eagles.
It was a wet and windy day at the Tetley’s Stadium, but the Rams got off to a flying start with a penalty put over by Matty Beharrell within two minutes, followed soon after with a try for Brad Graham. For the rest of the first half, there was few attacking chances for either side with play very much dictated by the poor conditions.
The beginning of the second half was when the drama really started to ramp up when Paul Sykes, making his first appearance of the season, was sent to the sinbin for ten minutes after a high shot and just five minutes later the Rams were reduced to 11 when Reiss Butterworth was red carded also for a high shot.
Despite this, the Rams looked sturdy and appeared to have a great opportunity to score with pressure on the Eagles’ 10 metre line until a spillage in the attack took the Eagles up field and in to score through Liam Johnson. Sheffield then really started to put pressure on the Rams backline and after a scrum on the Rams’ 10, Anthony Thackeray put in Kris Welham to score in the corner which Isaak Farrell converted to make the score 6-10 to the Eagles.
However, there was one last twist in the tale, in the 72nd minute Paul Sykes slipped through an intelligent grubber which was collected by Adam Ryder who bundled over to score, sending the South Stand into raptures. A composed Beharrell then added the extras to put the Rams ahead.
Nervy moments followed as the resulting kick-off was fumbled and invited more pressure on, but the Rams defence held firm and held on to secure a first win in the Betfred Championship this season.
Coach Lee Greenwood said after the game “I thought we were good today in all the different phases of the game, thirteen versus thirteen we were solid defensively and scored a nice try, maybe we could have had another. Then the cards early in the second half made it totally different. Sheffield became more of a threat and we had to work really hard for each other. I felt we were unlucky to go behind, but the response was outstanding. We’re trying to build more resilience about us and that was the ultimate test today. The win is obviously big, but the manner of it with all the adversity, makes it that much bigger.”
Following the game in the Royal Suite, a sculpture of former Dewsbury player, coach, and club president Jack Addy, was unveiled to supporters by former players in the Royal Suite.
Dewsbury Rams (12): Turner, Gabriel, Graham, Dixon, Carr, Beharrell, Sykes, Magrin, Speakman ©, Annakin, Tomlinson, Ryder, Minchella
Interchanges: Butterworth, Peltier, Stevens, Schofield
Tries: Graham (6’), Ryder (72’)
Conversions: Beharrell (1/2)
Penalties: Beharrell (1/1)
Yellow Card: Sykes (45‘)
Red Card: Butterworth (50‘)
Sheffield Eagles (10): Guzdek, Jones-Bishop, Welham, Oakes, Bass, I.Farrell, Thackeray, Kirk, Halafihi, Dickinson, Johnson, J.Farrell, Hodgson
Interchanges: Douglas, Broadbent, Wood, Reilly
Tries: Johnson (63’), Welham (68’)
Conversions: I Farrell (1/2)
Attendance: 846
Man of the Match as chosen by YBS was Adam Ryder.
Keep your eyes peeled for information on our next game, which sees the Widnes Vikings visit the Tetley’s Stadium on Monday 21st February at 19:45.
