MIDLANDS HURRICANES 46 DEWSBURY RAMS 12
IAN GOLDEN, Alexander Stadium, Sunday
MIDLANDS produced a fluent performance to see off a Dewsbury side who added little to the encounter.
In fact the margin of victory could have been higher as the only major error the Hurricanes made in the second half was just before the hooter, when a sloppy pass as they looked for a ninth try instead led to a consolation score for the Rams.
But that shouldn’t detract from what was a very good display by the Birmingham team, both in attack and defence.
They took the lead before Dewsbury had even touched the ball (apart from kicking off). The visitors gave away a penalty and a couple of plays later, Matty Chrimes dived over wide out.
Despite winning two penalties and a six-again, all in the Midlands half, Dewsbury were finding it tough to make an impression.
But they were getting most of the possession following that early home try, and had a slice of good fortune when a Midlands clean break was pulled back for a forward pass.
And from the scrum, Jack Briggs dived in under the posts and Jacob Hookem slotted over the simple conversion for a 6-4 lead.
Midlands responded on the half-hour mark. A fine passing move ended in Chrimes slipping through and again dotting down wide out.
From the restart, Midlands got their third try. This time Chrimes was the provider, opening up a gap for Sully Medforth to score under the posts making it easy for ex-Dewsbury player Jake Sweeting to this time slot the goal.
A further try came just before the break, thanks to some excellent play from Danny Barcoe and a 50-metre run by Ross Oakes, who evaded all potential tacklers to score. Sweeting slotted the extras for a 20-6 lead.
That was extended just three minutes into the second half when Sweeting kept the score ticking over by kicking a penalty-goal.
Midlands soon notched a fifth try. Following a penalty, Tom Wilkinson dived over, and Sweeting converted before adding another penalty-goal for a 30-6 advantage which must have left Dewsbury deflated.
With eight minutes to go, Medforth ran well and pushed all aside for his second try.
Things went from bad to worse for Paul March’s men. Harvey Roberts was sin-binned for a high tackle and, from the resulting penalty, Aaron Willis ran in for a score which Sweeting improved.
From the kick-off, Todd Horner ran more than half the length of the pitch for the eighth try and Sweeting again goaled.
The game ended with that Dewsbury consolation as Keenen Tomlinson intercepted a stray pass and run unchallenged to the line for Hookem to convert.
GAMESTAR: Midlands’ Danny Barcoe was a big influence.
GAMEBREAKER: Jake Sweeting’s penalty-goal to put the score to 30-6.
MATCHFACTS
HURRICANES
1 Todd Horner
2 Matty Chrimes
24 Matty Hanley
4 Ross Oakes
25 Luis Roberts
6 Jake Sweeting
21 Sully Medforth
20 Elliott Morris
14 Aiden Roden
19 Marcus Green
11 Tom Wilkinson
15 Aaron Willis
13 Mikey Wood
Subs (all used)
9 Danny Barcoe
18 Zeus Silk
16 Ellis Hobson
17 Kieran Moran
Tries: Chrimes (2, 30), Medforth (34, 72), Oakes (40), Wilkinson (46), Willis (75), Horner (77)
Goals: Sweeting 7/10
RAMS
30 Craig McShane
27 Tom Delaney
15 Keenen Tomlinson
4 George Senior
22 Liam Copland
6 Dan Coates
7 Jacob Hookem
18 Jamie Field
31 Jack McShane
13 Dec Tomlinson
11 Joe Summers
12 Matt Garside
16 Louis Collinson
Subs (all used)
14 Luke Mearns
19 Jack Briggs
8 Jackson Walker
20 Harvey Roberts
Tries: Briggs (20), K Tomlinson (79)
Goals: Hookem 2/2
Sin bin: Roberts (74) – high tackle
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 4-6, 8-6, 14-6, 20-6; 22-6, 28-6, 30-6, 34-6, 40-6, 46-6, 46-12
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Hurricanes: Danny Barcoe; Rams: Keenen Tomlinson
Penalty count: 8-9
Half-time: 20-6
Referee: Tara Jones
Attendance: 250
