Rams keep up 100% record with fantastic victory against Hornets at Crown Oil Arena.
The Rams faced a trip across the Pennines on Sunday afternoon to face Gary Thornton’s Rochdale Hornets, who they had beaten only two weeks prior in the Challenge Cup, looking to make it four wins out of four in Betfred League One.
It was the home side who got off to an almost perfect start when Cian Tyrer scored in the corner following on from a Rams mistake close to their own line. However, the Rams managed to answer back with a score of their own, Lewis Carr finishing well after the ball was sprayed out to the wing. When Paul Sykes added the extras, it was the Rams who held a slender lead after fifteen minutes.
The Rams went further ahead just five minutes later when Ollie Greensmith went over for his fourth try of the season after some good play close to the Hornets’ line. The lead was extended again when just after the half hour mark Dale Ferguson powered over from close range after a great break from Calum Turner had given the Rams good field position.
The Scotland skipper then doubled his tally for the afternoon scoring just as the half time hooter was about to sound, indeed it was Ferguson’s own strong running in that same set that gave the Rams the field position to work the move from.
After a shaky start to the second half for the Rams, Owen Restall scored his fourth of the season after the Rams had forced a goal line drop out. The Rams then forced another goal line drop out immediately after and from the resulting set of six managed to score again through Perry Whiteley who shrugged off a Rochdale defender to score.
The next twenty minutes saw the game go into a bit of a lull with both sides cancelling each other out, that was until a Hornets kick went dead in goal on seventy-four minutes. Lewis Carr ran the ball back with vigour to take the Rams forward and on the next play Ollie Greensmith made the break and fed Bailey O’Connor to run the remaining forty metres and score his first try for the Rams.
With a thirty-six-point-lead and seven minutes remaining you may have been fooled into thinking the game was over, but a wonderful quick-fire Owen Restall double, with great breaks from Sam Day on both, took the Rams to half a century of points and gave the fullback his first Rams hat-trick.
After the game Rams Assistant Coach Craig Huby said, “We’re very pleased with the performance today, it’s a tough place to come and although we started off slow, once we got into the game and our edges started getting involved a bit more we started rolling up field and we performed as well as we know we can.”
Our next game sees us in Betfred Challenge Cup Fourth Round action on Sunday 2nd April against Widnes Vikings at FLAIR Stadium (15:00).
Rochdale Hornets (4): Tyrer, Nixon, Cooke, O’Keefe, Clarke, Else, Hewitt, Braham, Berry, Killan, Brewin, Forber, Arnold.
Interchanges: Rodan, Peachey, O’Hanlon, Brannan, Gatcliffe (18th)
Tries: Tyrer (3’)
Conversions: Hewitt (0/1)
Dewsbury Rams (52): Restall, Carr, O’Connor, Greensmith, Whiteley, Sykes, Turner, Beckett, Butterworth, R.Dixon, Garside, Graham, Davies.
Interchanges: Day, Morris, Ferguson, Littlewood, Frewin (18th)
Tries: Carr (13’), Greensmith (18’), Ferguson (33’, 40’), Restall (50’, 77’, 80’), Whiteley (54’), O’Connor (74’)
Conversions: Sykes (8/9)
