Hunslet Hawks 16 - 30 Dewsbury Rams

Match report by Chris 'Ossy' Osbaldeston

For some reason I always prefer to sleep on a game before submitting a match report; an instant, knee-jerk reaction isn’t always the best, and I think this counts double in respect of yesterday’s game. I even arrived at the South Leeds Stadium with conflicting emotions; I wanted a convincing victory from the Rams, preferably without humiliating the Hawks. In the end I got both, but I’m still not happy because, for the second week on the trot, we didn’t play very well.

This is where the good night’s sleep comes in. I wrote my report last night, but when I came to reread it this morning, I found I disagreed with almost everything. The result is a complete rewrite.

There’d been some discussion about the likely line up on the Forum all week, so the absence of Pat Walker was no great surprise, nor was the appearance of Richard Chapman and Kane Epati for the first time in almost twelve months. Both needed the game time, though Kane’s stint at centre was cut short by an injury to his nose. Tom Colleran was in at full back with Joe Helme starting at prop.

I didn’t know exactly what to expect, the first few minutes were played out normally, and it was a Hawks error on 7 minutes that led to the Rams first score. A simple penalty failed to find touch when Austin Buchanan palmed the ball back into the field of play. Liam Finn, starting at loose forward, broke from the half way line, drew the defence and sent Bryn Powell over for a simple try. Not content with that he also added the conversion from out on the touchline Rams 6 Hawks 0; so far it seemed to be going to the script, except that Hunslet clearly hadn’t read the same script.

Rather than piling on the points, the Rams seemed unconvincing, and on the half hour the Hawks seemed over, only for Watling to spill the scoring pass. For a few minutes this seemed to be the wake up call the Rams clearly needed. On the next set they were back at the other end for David Rourke to force his way over on the right. Again Liam Finn converted, but as the first half drew to a close, it was the Hawks who had the last word, Paul Robinson squeezing over in the corner for a deserved try. Half time Rams 12 Hawks 4.

The first few minutes of the second half seemed to be going the same way. Just as I was writing in my notebook that we were seeing too much ‘one man’ football from the Rams, David Rourke dummied his way over under the posts for his second try. Liam Finn added the goal and at 18 – 4 the game looked to be swinging the Rams way at last.

Five minutes later it was Andy Bostock, on as sub, who dummied his way over on the left, and again Finn added a good conversion. This period saw the Rams dominating without ever looking to be in total control. Again the Hawks went over, only to be held up, and the Rams failure to back up was soon to the fore as first Dom Maloney, and then Austin Buchanan broke down the middle only to find nobody in support. A few ghosts of last season there I felt. 25 minutes in they showed us a glimpse of what they’re capable of, a flowing, 60-yard move cut the Hawks to pieces, and David Clayton’s pass sent Liam Finn in for a try beneath the posts to which Liam himself added the conversion. Rams 30 – Hawks 4.

To their credit, the Hawks refused to buckle. Maybe the Rams backed off slightly, but give Hunslet their due, they came back strongly in that last ten minutes or so. Twice in succession the Rams were forced to kick out from beneath their posts, and the pressure finally told. Stand off Moxon cutting through to score on the left, goaled by Darren Robinson.

The Rams were dropping the ball again, and Hunslet made them pay with a third try from Darren Robison at the death. The same player added the conversion as the hooter sounded and the game ended with the score at Rams 30 Hawks 16. Disappointing from the Rams point of view I suppose, but nowhere near as bad as last year’s fixture.

Where do I see the positives? Well, for most of the game we didn’t play well, and yet we won comfortably enough. We produced another couple of those length of the field moves that show what we can achieve, and yet we made too many basic errors. At times backing up was poor, and our kicking game barely got off the ground. The main positive for me is that there’s so much room for improvement. Someone soon is going to take another shellacking from us, with any luck it will be the Bulldogs come Sunday.

Teams: - DEWSBURY RAMS:- Tom Colleran; Bryn Powell; Chris Langley; Kane Epati; Austin Buchanan; Josh Weeden; Dean Lawford; Joe Helme; Richard Chapman; Dominic Maloney; Martin Robinson; Tere Glassie; Liam Finn. Subs:- David Clayton; Andrew Bostock; Aaron Trinder; David Rourke.

HUNSLET HAWKS:- Nathan Larvin; Luke Rayner; Andy Robinson; Stuart Dunbar; Robert Armstrong; Mark Moxon; Kevin Till; Chris Plume; Jon Wainhouse; Paul Seal; Jamie Lester; Ade Adeirye; Karl Gunney. Subs:- Darren Robinson; Paul Robinson; Steve Craven; Liam Watling.

Referee:- Matthew Kidd
Attendance 836.
Man of Match (my picks). Rams :- Liam Finn. Hawks :- Mark Moxon.