Rams sweep past Hurricanes at FLAIR Stadium.
Midlands Hurricanes were the visitors to FLAIR Stadium for the Rams’ first home Betfred League One game of 2023 in what was a first ever meeting between the two sides. The Hurricane, like the Rams, had started the season well with two comprehensive victories in their opening two games.
It was the Rams who got off to a fantastic start after just four minutes, when Ollie Greensmith powered over from short range for his second try of the season and with Paul Sykes adding the extras the lead was extended to six. Shortly after the opening try, Paul Sykes added another two points after a high shot by a Midlands player gave the Rams a penalty in front of the posts.
Calum Turner then got the second Rams try of the afternoon after Perry Whiteley had made a fantastic break through the middle. Two minutes later, Turner then scored his second of the afternoon, a fantastic offload by Dale Ferguson creating a huge gap in the middle of the Midlands defence which Turner exploited to steam through and score.
Just before the half was up, the Rams managed another score through Owen Restall who finished well after a lovely offload from Matt Garside, which gave the Rams a substantial lead at the break.
The Hurricanes started the second half well, applying pressure to the Rams line which eventually told when Matty Welham went over but the Rams managed to answer straight back through Lewis Carr who finished well in the corner after a good offload from Sykes. Rams Captain Reiss Butterworth then scored his first try of the season with a lovely scoot from dummy half, not long after.
Just before the hour mark, Dale Ferguson bulldozed his way through from close range to score and when Sykes managed a simple conversion, he achieved another career milestone, this time his 1000th career goal.
Some great interplay between Brad Graham and Connor Davies allowed Davies into score and with Sykes’ eighth conversion of the day, this brought up the half century for the Rams. Just before the end, the Hurricanes rounded off the day’s scoring, when Matty Welham scored his second of the afternoon.
After the game Rams Assistant Coach Jaymes Chapman said, “We’ve been on point all week really, we’ve been really clinical and structured in training and it’s all built to today. Everything that we’ve done from Tuesday to today has panned out exactly how we’d want it to.”
Our next game sees us back in Betfred Challenge Cup action against Rochdale Hornets in the Third Round on Sunday 12th March, kick off is at 14:00.
Dewsbury Rams (50): Restall, Carr, Jordan, Greensmith, Whiteley, Sykes, Turner, Beckett, Butterworth, R.Dixon, Garside, Graham, Collinson.
Interchanges: Day, Morris, Ferguson, Davies, O’Connor (18th Man)
Tries: Greensmith (4’), Turner (20’, 22’), Restall (35’), Carr (48’), Butterworth (53’), Ferguson (59’), Davies (70’)
Conversions: Sykes (8/8)
Penalty Goal: Sykes (10’)
Midlands Hurricanes (10): Hill, Dunne, M.Welham, Hallett, Qareqare, Stead, Wilkinson, Moran, Windley, Clavering, Dawson, L.Welham, Martin.
Interchanges: Dawson, Cullimore, Bowring, Bailey, Flanagan (18th Man)
Tries: M.Welham (41’, 76)
Conversions: Stead (1/2)
