Twelve-man Rams battle valiantly but lose out to Barrow Raiders.
Another trip to Cumbria awaited the Rams on the first weekend of September to face this season’s surprise package Barrow Raiders, looking to avenge their narrow defeat on Monday night against Batley Bulldogs.
The game got underway in feisty fashion with Josh Wood sent to the sin-bin early on for a late shot on Jimmy Beckett, which would force the Prop to miss the rest of the game due to concussion protocols. With the extra man the Rams took full advantage when stand in Scrum Half Calum Turner, grubbered through for Paul Sykes to score his second in as many games.
The Rams then doubled their lead in the eighteenth minute when Conor Davies span over from short range and after Barrow were penalised close to their own line for a high shot, Paul Sykes kicked a goal to extend the Rams lead to fourteen.
Barrow then hit back immediately as they managed to get the ball back from a short kick-off and Hakim Miloudi scored in the corner. Then came the moment that changed the match immeasurably as Paul Sykes was sent from the field for a tip tackle on a Barrow player.
The Raiders scored almost immediately the red card as Jarrod Sammut spun away from a couple of tacklers to bring the game to within four points. The game was back and forth and it was no surprise Rams then scored again as Ollie Greensmith powered his way over the line to score, taking two Barrow defenders with him.
The half wasn’t done there though as Miloudi scored his second for the home side, but the Rams did eventually go in at half-time leading by six points as Calum Turner kicked a penalty just as the hooter was about to sound.
The second-half was always going to be difficult playing against a side full of confidence with twelve men and a substitute down and the Raiders made the Rams pay as they ran in four unanswered tries to give them an unassailable lead. Two Shane Toal tries, a Jarrod Stack try and a long-range effort from Tee Ritson handed the home side the win.
The Rams carried on fighting until the end though and manage to pass twenty-four points for the first time this season when Ollie Greensmith scored his second of the afternoon. However, it was Barrow who completed the afternoon’s scoring as Miloudi managed to get his hat-trick.
After the game Rams Head Coach Liam Finn said, “Massive effort from the lads today, first-half we got a very good start we challenged ourselves to be at a level we’ve been at for the last two weeks and not be up and down like a yo-yo and we gave ourselves that good start and we were in the game.
The second-half we started to put ourselves under pressure, we did some crazy stuff with a man down and the try we conceded just after half-time when we needed to apply pressure of our own gave them the confidence to exploit us being a man down and they did just that.”
Next up is our final game of the season against Sheffield Eagles at the Olympic Legacy Park on Friday 9th September (19:45).
Barrow Raiders (44): Cresswell, Ritson, Miloudi, Shaw, Toal, Sammut, Johnston, Gillam, Wood, Iaria, Langtree, Stack, Carter.
Interchanges: Mossop, Brooks, Hopkins, Crellin.
Tries: Miloudi (22’, 36, 79), Sammut (29’), Toal (43’, 50’), Stack (54’), Ritson (59’)
Conversions: Shaw (6/8)
Yellow Card: Wood (3’)
Dewsbury Rams (28): McGowan, Carr, Greensmith, Ryder, Dixon, Sykes, Turner, Beckett, Butterworth, Schofield, Davies, Knowles, Stevens.
Interchanges: Sweeting, Tomlinson, Kirby, Walker
Tries: Sykes (6’), Davies (18’), Greensmith (24’, 71’)
Conversions: Sykes (2/2), Turner (2/2)
Penalty Goal: Sykes (22’)
Red Card: Sykes (25’)
Attendance: 2370
