Widnes (H) - Sunday 7th April, 3pm

[thehullram]

Good to get a win under our belts last week, think we have a chance against Widnes this week. 

What changes (if any) would you make from the team v Batley? Anyone know how long Graham is out for? Hopefully we get the 3 Huddersfield lads again, as think that makes a big difference to the strength we are able to have on the bench (where I think we have struggled this season already without them).

Hopefully, with them being top, and our result last week, we should get a decent crowd. 

 

[Crown Flatter]

5 hours ago, thehullram said:

Good to get a win under our belts last week, think we have a chance against Widnes this week. 

What changes (if any) would you make from the team v Batley? Anyone know how long Graham is out for? Hopefully we get the 3 Huddersfield lads again, as think that makes a big difference to the strength we are able to have on the bench (where I think we have struggled this season already without them).

Hopefully, with them being top, and our result last week, we should get a decent crowd. 

 

According to League Express, Fergie suggested Brad will be out “for a month or two”!

[Wakefield Ram]

Brad Graham was in a leg brace on Friday so not back anytime soon. 

And yes the Huddersfield players made a big difference, really impressed with Billington in particular. 

[Wakefield Ram]

Think this will be a good chance to post another win. Think it will be close either way, Widnes have come off a win as well. 

[muddyfunster]

Widnes are flying high at the moment, but with no disrespect to the sides they have beaten so far they haven't yet come up against a potential title chasing side. I certainly don't count us as title chasers but so long as we apply the same effort and sprit as the Halifax and Batley games, I'm confidant we'll give them a game and might even nick it. 

[horbury ram]

Officials for sunday

• Referee: M. Lynn
• Reserve Referee: J. Collier
• Touch Judge 1: P. Brooke
• Touch Judge 2: L. O'brien
• Time Keeper: G. Kershaw

[NickD]

3 hours ago, horbury ram said:

Officials for sunday

• Referee: M. Lynn
• Reserve Referee: J. Collier
• Touch Judge 1: P. Brooke
• Touch Judge 2: L. O'brien
• Time Keeper: G. Kershaw

I'd happily take Fridays ref again.  Thought Mr Bennet was as good as we've seen at our gaff for ages and certainly better than that SL ref we had for the Boxing Day match.  

[graham fisher]

22 hours ago, horbury ram said:

Officials for sunday

• Referee: M. Lynn
• Reserve Referee: J. Collier
• Touch Judge 1: P. Brooke
• Touch Judge 2: L. O'brien
• Time Keeper: G. Kershaw

Personally I've not heard of this referee,but it's not about the officials it's about us. Another tough game but it's one I think we can win,but to do so I think we'll have to up our performance from last week against Batley. Will we go with the same team as last week or will we restore Restall to full back   In the past we've moaned about chopping and changing the side other than for injuries or suspensions. For me personally I'd stick with the same team.

Rams 16

Widnes 12

Fts Whiteley 

Mom

O'Connor 

Att who knows

[Wakefield Ram]

Well all the "tipsters" on the main forum going for a Widnes win......then again they all went for a Batley win last week....

[NickD]

Think Widnes will still be smarting from last year and buoyed by their opening two games so a Rams win would be a very pleasant surprise.

[NickD]

No Bailey on Sunday I see.   Suspect thats down to that  naughty little challenge from our old friend Dale Morton last week?  Will be a blow that, but hopefully we will see Owen back.    Will miss Baileys ability to break the line though

[coolie]

20 hours ago, NickD said:

No Bailey on Sunday I see.   Suspect thats down to that  naughty little challenge from our old friend Dale Morton last week?  Will be a blow that, but hopefully we will see Owen back.    Will miss Baileys ability to break the line though

Injured is Bailey

[Blind side johnny]

21 hours ago, NickD said:

No Bailey on Sunday I see.   Suspect thats down to that  naughty little challenge from our old friend Dale Morton last week?  Will be a blow that, but hopefully we will see Owen back.    Will miss Baileys ability to break the line though

Injured in training I understand - may be out for 4 weeks. Don't worry Nick, it should give a chance for Restall to get back in.

This will be more difficult than last week and we will do well to get anything out of it. I will be happy with another good, committed performance and very happy with any points. It would be nice to get a decent gate with a few more visitors than Batley could muster.

[Wakefield Ram]

53 minutes ago, Blind side johnny said:

Injured in training I understand - may be out for 4 weeks. Don't worry Nick, it should give a chance for Restall to get back in.

This will be more difficult than last week and we will do well to get anything out of it. I will be happy with another good, committed performance and very happy with any points. It would be nice to get a decent gate with a few more visitors than Batley could muster.

Think he got injured against Batley. He was limping during the 2nd half. 

[Crown Flatter]

I don’t think we will win this one. Look at it this way:

we lost to Halifax

Bradford were too good for Halifax last week

Widnes won easily in the  CC at Bradford

Widnes come to us winning two from two.

On the other hand:

Batley overcame Widnes in the CC

we were too good for Batley on Good Friday!

My prediction:

Dewsbury 12-24 Widnes

FTS: Restall

MoM: Dawson

Att: 1223

[graham fisher]

1 hour ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Think he got injured against Batley. He was limping during the 2nd half. 

Done ankle ligaments apparently.

[SUPERSTUD]

Really looking forward to the match with Widnes tomorrow. First of all I wish a safe journey to the Widnes fans and an equally safe journey back home. The game itself. Honestly I do not know what is likely to happen. From a personal aspiration point of view I just hope our boys perform like I know they can do. No matter what ultimately happens I am with you all the way. Go out there and make sure that Widnes have to compete for every scrap available throughout the course of the match. IMHO we are building. Tomorrow will not ultimately define us but give it your all please lads.

[horbury ram]

Think this should be a close affair on yet another heavy pitch...so much for summer rugby !!

Rams to continue our improvement 

Rams 20 vikings 18

Mom : Jimmy beckett

Attached: 1600

[NickD]

Thought the lads worked hard today and once I’d seen we had neither Callum or Bailey I wasn’t expecting us to take the points.   Any team would miss those two.  No idea what happened to Rush but he might have made a difference so his absence also added to our travails
That said, their pack was v strong and laid the foundations for a fairly comfortable win in the end.   Still need the pack to look to offload a little more but can’t complain about the work rate and for long periods our defence was nearly as good as last week.  

[Wakefield Ram]

Surprised there was no Callum Turner or Kieran Rush and we lacked creativity and our kicking game was poor. Despite a howling gale, we only tried a 40:20 a few minutes from the end. Their line speed was better and they put us on our backs far more than we did. They just had a bigger pack and they steamrollered us. They didn't have to do too much to score, two tries from acting half. 

On plus side, Beckett had a great game as did Owen Restall, but we need a lot more than grit and effort to win. We need to play the full 6 on the opposition line. 

[Wakefield Ram]

13 minutes ago, NickD said:

Thought the lads worked hard today and once I’d seen we had neither Callum or Bailey I wasn’t expecting us to take the points.   Any team would miss those two.  No idea what happened to Rush but he might have made a difference so his absence also added to our travails
That said, their pack was v strong and laid the foundations for a fairly comfortable win in the end.   Still need the pack to look to offload a little more but can’t complain about the work rate and for long periods our defence was nearly as good as last week.  

Whether leaving out Turner and Rush was a tactical decision but to have neither was a big loss. Bailey was in a foot brace so guessing he's out for a few weeks. 

[Therein73]

I believe the absentees were all because of injury .... O'Connor, Rush, Turner and Graham .....  We made too many basic errors today and that contributed massively to our defeat - we could have got away with them last year but not at this level ..... We're still coming to terms with that step up but there's a lot of games left and we ARE improving !! 

[Crown Flatter]

We might offer grit and determination, but without creativity we will not get far. I don’t think Widnes were that brilliant, but their attacking speed and passing was quick whereas we were once again slow and the lack of someone (or two) backing up ought to be a worry. Get that sorted and we might do something.

Three player changes today and that made a big difference, but why should it? The only positive thing about today was that we scored. 

[Blind side johnny]

No half backs makes it difficult to win games of RL. Callum was injured last week, so we don't know how long he will be missing for. Bailey has an ankle injury that looks to keep him out for a few weeks and Brad won't be back for another month at least. I don't know why Rush was absent but he might have picked up a knock as well, who knows?

The organising ability their halfs combined with the nous of Fozard and much better timing in running and passing made the difference. On another day, with a full compliment available, we might have won this one.

[SUPERSTUD]

Attended the match and posting this before I read any other comments. Straight into it. Not good today. As soon as I saw the Rams line up I felt uncomfortable. That half back pairing ain’t beating even today’s mediocre Widnes team. No creativity whatsoever. All try’s conceded were avoidable and defendable. Widnes did absolutely nothing special. We were pretty soft into contact and the line speed as pretty average to say the least. Enough said for now.