Rampant Rams score seven tries in season opening victory against North Wales Crusaders.
The Rams travelled to the DCBL Stadium in Widnes for the first Betfred League One fixture of the season against North Wales Crusaders, who performed well in League One in 2022 finishing third at the end of the regular season.
The opening ten minutes as expected, were hotly contested with neither side seemingly able to get a foothold in the game until a contentious knock-on decision close to the Rams line gave the Crusaders a scrum, from which Owain Abel scored with Dave Gibbons converting.
The Rams then levelled the score after seventeen minutes, a wonderful tackle by Ronan Dixon forced the knock on inside the Crusaders half and Owen Restall finishing off a lovely flowing move in the corner, which Paul Sykes converted. The Rams then took the lead on twenty-seven minutes after Ollie Greensmith climbed highest to reach a Sykes kick to the corner and get the ball down, which Sykes converted.
With seven minutes until half time Caelum Jordan extended the Rams lead when he intercepted a Crusaders pass on his own line and ran the length of the field to score his first try in the professional game, with Sykes again converting fantastically from the right touchline. It got even better for the Rams before the break as Perry Whiteley managed to get over in the corner after a looping pass from Sykes.
The second half continued much the same as the first one had finished, Greensmith made a fantastic break from his own half with Sykes then providing the platform for Caelum Jordan to score his second of the afternoon after beating the remaining Crusaders defender with ease. Sykes kept up his fantastic kicking with another conversion from the right touchline.
Five minutes later Brad Graham went over after some lovely build up play close to the Crusaders line, which Sykes converted, giving the Rams a twenty-eight-point lead with twenty-five minutes to go. The Crusaders weren’t giving up though and following a knock-on close to the Rams line, Taylor Pemberton managing to scoot over from dummy half.
Owen Restall then became the second debutant to bag a brace after scoring his second on the back of an excellent Sam Day break. Although the game was all but over, it was still a feisty affair and tempers boiled over with just under ten minutes remaining as Ronan Dixon and Matt Fletcher were both sent to the sin-bin after a scuffle.
The Crusaders got in the final score of the game when Josh Lynch ran in to score on the hooter, but the day belonged to the Rams who were good value for the victory.
After the game Rams Head Coach Liam Finn said, “We needed to get into a winning mentality again and that’s what we did today, we’ll go through it and analyse it in the next few days, but it was good to get over the line in our first game.”
Our next game sees us up against Ashton Bears in the Betfred Challenge Cup Second Round at FLAIR Stadium, tickets are now on sale here.
North Wales Crusaders (18): Abel, Lynch, Hulme, Bruines, Massam, Billsborough, Gibbons, Hazzard, Jinks, Barratt, Eckley, Buckley, Fletcher.
Interchanges: Pemberton, Andrade, Brennan, Costello.
Tries: Abel (10’), Pemberton (59’), Lynch (78’)
Conversions: Gibbons (3/3)
Yellow Card: Fletcher (74’)
Dewsbury Rams (38): Restall, Dixon, Jordan, Greensmith, Whiteley, Sykes, Turner, Beckett, Butterworth, Dixon, Garside, Graham, Collinson.
Interchanges: Day, Morris, Ferguson, Walker
Tries: Restall (17’, 67’), Greensmith (27’), Jordan (32’, 48’), Whiteley (38’), Graham (54’)
Conversions: Sykes (5/7)
Yellow Card: R. Dixon (74’)
