Featherstone Rovers 40 Dewsbury Rams 26 One game all in the Northern Rail cup with the home side on each occasion being very dominant, how would the teams fair in the league. Both sides performed well last week with Rovers running SL side Catalans close and The Rams coming away from Batley with a well deserved victory. Hopefully a game of good rugby was in store. Certainly the second half produced exciting rugby but a mistake strewn first half with both teams struggling to hold on to the ball is probably best forgotten. Dewsbury kicked off going down the hill and Rovers ran back a good set completed with a kick to the corner. The Dewsbury winger, Epati, running the ball back knocked on and so Rovers had a second set on the Rams 20m line. They did cross the line from this set but an earlier ball had gone to ground and Rams were again This was to be the pattern for the first ten minutes with Rovers getting plenty of the ball, much of it from Dewsbury errors, but unable to break a stern Rams defensive line. Dewsbury, in fact, were the first team to score. On the back of a penalty for a swinging arm by Tony Tonks they gained their first possession of the game in the Rovers half. When Rovers were penalised again, for offside, Dewsbury decided to take the points on offer and Walker slotted over from in front of the sticks. Rovers continued to gain good ground up the field and some good kicks by Paul Handforth threatened the line but the Rams stood firm and on the 17th minute went down the field and scored again. The ball was spread to the left and the defence seemed to hold off as Bostock crossed for a try which Walker failed to convert. Loz must have caught the 'sweet spot' on the kick off as the ball sailed over the line to give Dewsbury a penalty on the half way line. They took full advantage of these easy yards, when Andrew Bostock, who 12 weeks earlier had run riot against Rovers, scored again. Once again Walker missed a tricky conversion. Rovers continued to attack without reward. With grubber kicks seeming to be failing Tiger but in a huge bomb but Josh Weeden took a good catch and did well to keep from being forced back over the line. Another attack was ended when Andy Kain was stopped with a high tackle. Rovers elected to run this but when the Rams were penalised again for flopping, Stuart stepped up and put the home team on the score board. Once again Dewsbury were to score against the run of play. A kick on the fifth by Tiger was well charged down by second row forward Alex Bretherton. As other players looked round for the ball, Bretherton was the first to react and was able to hold off the chasing players to score in the left corner, this time well converted by Patrick Walker. For the next ten minutes Dewsbury took good command of the game, the Rovers defence had to work hard and it looked very much as though the Rams would go in at half time with a respectable lead. The last five minutes of the half, though, were to change all that. Firstly an excellent pass from Andy Kain missed out players in between and reached Sean Hesketh who had a gap in front of him and scored at the base of the sticks. With Stuart Dickens off the field, Tiger stepped up to add the two and Rovers were on the way back. A slight hiccup when an excellent kick off from Lawford was carried behind the line by Tommy Saxton but the Rams were pinned for crossing as they returned the drop out. This penalty gave Rovers good field position and when Tommy Haughey was hit with yet another high shot, Tiger took the opportunity of adding two points to the home sides total. Only six points behind now and the majority of Rovers supporters would have settled for this after an indifferent first half but the the hooter hadn't gone yet. It was Dean Lawford's turn to over-hit the kick off and give Rovers a penalty on the I don't know what was said at half time but a different Rovers ran out for the second half. Rovers were powering down the field. Tony Tonks was held just short on one set. Andy Kain's kick through was put dead for another set and the home side were looking good. Five minutes into the half and as the ball was spread left, Richard Blakeway turned well in the tackle and dropped the ball into the welcoming hands of Wayne McHugh who crossed to score an unconverted try. Rovers were in front for the first time in the game. This was not going to last. A penalty against the markers carried the Rams up the field where a good short pass to Dominic Maloney gave him space to power over the line close enough to the sticks for the conversion to be a formality. This signaled the start of Rovers best period of the game. They leveled the scores only minutes later as a good ball from Tiger went to Andy Kirk. With the defence looking to Waine Pryce on the wing, Andy went low early and slid in from five yards It only took another three minutes for another score to be added. Good drives from Richard Blakeway and Stuart set up the attack and when Tiger was stopped as he scooted for the line he was able to slip the ball out to Andy Kirk who, although tackled, was able to stretch out and place the ball on the line. A good kick from Stuart and the lead was six points. Rovers came straight back down the hill and a kick through by Tiger was picked up by Pryce but in the act of scoring a defender managed to get boot to ball and knock it out of his hands. This only delayed the inevitable. The same move only minutes later saw Pryce swoop onto the ball and score as the Dewsbury full back Rovers came close on a number of further sets. Pryce nearly scored with another Tiger grubber and Haughey, Tonks and Wildbore all went close. Dewsbury were not finished, though, and with 6 minutes to go Bretherton scored his second try. Thankfully Walker missed quite an easy conversion attempt which could have narrowed the difference, so Dewsbury still needed to score twice to at least level the game. Rovers extended their lead with a very good try. With the ball going to the right, Tiger suddenly reversed this and threw out a long pass to the left to Andy Kain. He put a grubber through and Wayne McHugh managed to catch the ball as it bounced high and stoop to place it on the ground just before he crossed the dead ball line. Another conversion and the scoring was finished for the day. There only remained one final lapse of judgment by the Dewsbury players. Having regained the ball from a good kick off and then gained another set as they kicked for the corner, they were presented with a penalty under the sticks as Rovers strayed offside. With the hooter imminent and two points away from a bonus point, they elected to run the ball to no avail. A good win and perhaps in retrospect it was the tackling that Dewsbury had to do to keep Featherstone out in the first half that eventually paid dividends for the home team in the second half.
Half Time 14-16 Referee Mr G Hewer Scoring sequence 0-2, 0-6, 0-10, 2-10, 2-14, 2-16, 6-16, 8-16, 10-16, 14-16, 18-16, 18-20, 18-22, 22-22, 26-22, 28-22, 32-22, 34-22, 34-26, 38-26, 40-26 Game breaker: The 12 points immediately before half time gave Rovers the confidence to kick on in the second half. Crowd 1230 © 2008 Stuart Lonsdale Any comments (constructive criticism welcomed) or volunteers please email webmaster@featherstonerovers.net
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in possession. Once again though they failed to complete the set knocking on on the fourth. This, and a subsequent penalty for 'lying on', kept up the pressure from the home team until they too knocked on, on the first tackle. 
half way line. As Waine Pryce was tackled he released the pass but a defender got boot to ball to clear into touch. From the ensuing scrum, Loz picked up at the base, passed to Tiger who had gone blind and he put Pryce in at the corner for yet another try. Tiger's effort hit the post but from being out of it Rovers went in at half time, possibly luckily, only two points in arrears.
out. A good kick from Stuart once again hit the post but the momentum was now very much with the home side.
Buchanan attempted to shepherd it over the dead ball line. Stuart converted from the touchline and the gap was twelve points.
