Widnes Vikings travelled to the Tetley Stadium in Dewsbury to take on the Rams in the full knowledge that a win of any description would lift them above Featherstone Rovers into the top spot after four rounds of the Betfred Championship. A win for the home side would lift them up the table to tuck in just below halfway.
Rams coach Lee Greenwood could name almost the same squad as last time out, but Widnes were without the services of influential half-back Danny Craven along with Joe Edge, Joe Lyons and Shane Grady all named in the seventeen. Few people could see beyond a win for the Chemics.
Rams full-back Calum Turner lasted just over a minute before he was helped from the field with an ankle problem. Harry Kidd was held up over the line on four but on the next play the Rams were pulled up for shepherding.
Widnes went straight down the other end and Lloyd Roby picked up a Joe Lyons kick through to go over under the sticks. Steve Tyrer made no mistake with the conversion for 6-0.
A Widnes 40-20 from Matty Fozard gave the Vikings great field position on twelve but good defence from the Rams forced the error and Dewsbury got the ball back. The Rams were holding their own after the early setback.
On twenty-one the Rams were back in the game when Matty Beharrell bust through the Vikings line before finding Harry Kidd to go in by the left upright. Beharrell added the conversion to level the scores.
The Vikings regained the lead on twenty-nine when Roby went in for his second supporting inside after starting the move as Widnes broke down the right-hand side. Tyrer added the conversion for 12-6.
In the closing minutes of the half, Widnes were laying siege to the Rams line, but some excellent defence kept them at bay and, against the run of play, on thirty-eight the Rams got their second of the night after a Sykes kick to the corner was knocked back and picked up by Keenen Tomlinson to power in for the four pointer. Beharrell hit the far upright with his conversion, the home side trailing by two at the break.
Both sides showed that kicking would be a key second half tactic in the early exchanges, but it was fast hands which registered the first points of the second half when Adam Lawton bust the line and fed Brad Holroyd. Tyrer added the conversion, Widnes back into an eight-point lead.
On the hour mark the Rams were offside when they failed to gather a kick through and on the second tackle Tyler Dupree took the ball in centre off a Fozard pass to crash over under the sticks. Tyrer added the conversion, the Vikings with a comfort cushion.
On sixty-eight there was plenty of fortune in the fifth Widnes try after the ball was hacked forwards by Holroyd and a Joe Lyons was on hand to ground the ball by the uprights. Tyrer added the extras, maintaining a faultless night with the boot, for 30-10.
The sixth try came from Adam Lawton when the big man ran onto a short ball to muscle his way over from two metres out. Tyrer added a sixth conversion of the night for 36-10.
Jimmy Beckett was sin-binned on seventy-seven to add a final dose of misery to the Rams night.
Another great advert for the Championship graced the Premier Sport cameras with a full-blooded encounter between two sides who both thought that they could snatch the two points. Widnes were the strongest seventeen but the defensive effort from the Rams was, at times, sensational. Widnes will take the points back to Cheshire along with the knowledge that after four rounds they are on the top of the pile.
Dewsbury Rams: Turner, Gabriel, Graham, Dixon, Carr, Beharrell (G), Sykes, Beckett (SB on 77), Speakman, Kidd (T), Tomlinson (T), Ryder, Magrin. Subs: Butterworth, Peltier, Stevens, Schofield.
Widnes Vikings: Roby (2T), Ince, Fleming, Tyrer (6G), Holroyd (T), Lyons (T), Smith, Baker, Fozard, Dupree (T), Wilde, Davies, Brown. Subs: Doro, Grady, Lawton (T), Hulme.
Half-Time: 10-12.
Full-Time: 10-36.
Score Progression: 0-4, 0-6, 4-6, 6-6, 6-10, 6-12, 10-12 : HT : 10-16, 10-18, 10-22, 10-24, 10-28. 10-30, 10-34, 10-36, (SB) : FT .
Referee: Scott Mikalauskas.
