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Norther Rail Cup match report: Dewsbury Rams v Halifax
Dewsbury Rams suffered a heavy defeat in their opening Northern Rail Cup fixture at the hands of the competition’s second-favourites Halifax.
The away side raced into an early two-try lead as the Rams struggled to keep up with their opposition’s impressive pace.
Dewsbury had the first real chance of the game on five minutes when a clever move between prop Steve Crossley and Craig Cook saw the ball go wide to James Craven, who was bundled into touch.
However just four minutes after the Rams’ assault, the pressure was now on their line and a neat inside pass from Paul Handforth sent Craig Ashall crashing over under the posts. Steve Tyrer converted to make it 6-0.
Patch Walker’s kick-off went straight out on the full and Halifax made their West Yorkshire rivals pay as Wayne Reittie, collected Anthony Bowman’s kick through to touch down.
An increase in tempo and aggression saw the Rams go within a whisker of scoring twice in quick succession either side of the half-hour mark.
But after weathering the Rams’ storm, Halifax increased their advantage with a Sean Penkywicz try on the stroke of half-time.
Halifax scored their fourth try just six minutes into the second half.
Rams full-back James Craven gathered a loose ball in the in-goal area but was then hit hard by two Halifax defenders. The ball was dislodged and Bowman dived on the loose ball.
Matters worsened for the home side just after the hour when Halifax prop Adam Robinson spun out of a tackle to score an unconverted try.
The hosts were handed a glimmer of hope shortly after as prop Steve Crossley bundled his way over on the back of a penalty for dissent, which saw Halifax’s Penkywicz sin-binned. Walker’s conversion reduced the deficit to 18 points.
The Rams were also reduced to 12 men when Andy Smith was shown a yellow card for the same offence.
Halifax then scored two late unanswered tries through substitute Anthon Thackeray and Handforth. Tyrer converted both to complete the second-half rout.
DEWSBURY RAMS: Craven, Wainwright, Esders, Faal; Buchanan, Cook, Walker, Fozzard, Blake, Crossley, Spicer, Tonks, Barker. Subs (all used): Barlow, Smith, Jones, Samuels.
HALIFAX: Fieldhouse, White, Tyrer, Heaton, Reittie; Handforth, Bowman, Robinson, Penkywicz, Hesketh, Manning, Morrison, Ashall. Subs (all used): Thackeray, James, Gannon, Barlow.
Referee: Tim Roby (York).
Attendance: 1,347.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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