Newcastle Thunder took the two points from the Tetley’s Stadium despite a valiant second half display by the Rams.
On a bright Sunday afternoon at the Tetley’s Stadium it was a tense opening to the game for both sides until Ollie Greensmith was sent to the sin bin for the Rams after a late shot. Newcastle then opened the scoring on the back of three successive penalties when Brad Gallagher went over, converted by Shorrocks. Shortly after, Isaac Nokes then scored for Newcastle after a mazy run, again converted by Shorrocks.
This sparked the Rams into action and following on from some pressure on the Thunder line, Brad Graham plucked the ball from the sky after Matty Beharrell’s kick and just about managed to manage to put the ball down to get the Rams on the board.
Towards the end of the first half penalties were mounting up against the Rams and this culminated in Reiss Butterworth being sent to the sin bin for ten minutes. On the back of that penalty, a quick tap was taken and Josh Eaves scored under the posts to give Thunder a fourteen point advantage going into the break.
The Rams came out with a different attitude in the second half and scored when Reiss Butterworth dummied and passed to Jordan Schofield who barged over, Beharrell then added the extras to reduce the deficit to eight. The Rams were on the attack soon after but an interception by Newcastle’s Nokes on his own twenty metre line allowed him to go over for his second and Newcastle’s fourth try of the afternoon, which Shorrocks converted.
It took some special play from Paul Sykes to get the Rams back into the game, after breaking the line he set up Andy Gabriel who went over in the corner, which Beharrell converted. Shortly after Brad Day was sent to the sin bin for Newcastle for a high shot, however the Rams were unable to take advantage of the extra man as the game turned into an arm wrestle for the next fifteen minutes. This was until Adam Ryder went over and Beharrell kicked the two to make it a two-point game.
Unfortunately, the Rams were unable to build on this and although Mitch Clark was yellow carded late on, it was Newcastle who took the two points back to Tyneside.
After the game Rams Head Coach Lee Greenwood said, “I definitely think that we deserved something from that, I’ve told the players over the past two weeks that we need to be in there right until the end and give ourselves a chance of winning and we did that today. It was certainly a step in the right direction when you compare it with our last two games, I certainly can’t fault the attitude of the players, it was a massive effort.”
Dewsbury Rams (22): Dixon, Blackmore, Graham, Greensmith, Gabriel, Beharrell, Sykes, Stevens, Speakman, Beckett, Ryder, Oakley, Knowles.
Interchanges: Butterworth, Smith, Schofield, Hall
Tries: Graham (15’), Schofield (45’), Gabriel (57’), Ryder (72’)
Conversions: Beharrell (3/4)
Yellow Cards: Greensmith (5’), Butterworth (32’)
Newcastle Thunder (24): Mullen, Boafao, Dee, Nokes, Johnson, Shorrocks, Coates, Chapelhow, Eaves, Clark, Gallagher, Day, Wilde.
Interchanges: Donaghy, Clemmitt, Bailey, Moran
Tries: Gallagher (7’), Nokes (10’), Eaves (33’),
Conversions: Shorrocks (4/4)
Yellow Cards: Day (59’), Clark (79’)
Our next game sees us head to the Leigh Sports Village on Friday 1st April (kick off 20:00) to take on the Leigh Centurions.
