REPORT | Dewsbury Rams 26 Dons 12

The Dons saw their perfect start to the season ended with a 26-12 defeat at well-drilled promotion rivals Dewsbury Rams.

Having won six out of six to start the season, Richard Horne’s side were hyped up to face a Dewsbury outfit looking to bounce back to the Championship under Liam Finn.  

A war of attrition was played out in the first half as the Rams lead 6-4. However, a number of errors and solid defence from the hosts saw the Dons pick up their first loss of the season.  

It was Dewsbury who opened the scoring after making the most of an error by the Dons, who turned over close to the line having previously forced an error from the Rams.  

With space open, half-back Calum Turner scrambled at the line, putting his arm over the line despite the best efforts of the Dons defence. Veteran Paul Sykes converted to make it 6-0 after ten minutes.  

Horne’s side showed character to hit back soon after in the 14th minute thanks to half-back Connor Robinson, who created space and used a well-timed dummy to find the try line.  

The rest of the first half was a display of solid defence from both sides with the best chance coming from Misi Taulapapa who had the ball past out of his reach from a trade mark Jason Tali line break and offload combination.  

After the break, Robinson tied the game with a penalty from in front of the sticks in the 46th minute, much to the joy of the visiting faithful who were in full voice throughout.  

Simon Frewin scored his first of two tries after being fed the ball by Brad Graham to make it 12-6. 

Dewsbury then scored a penalty try after Owen Restall was blocked from scoring when chasing a grubber kick from Turner.  

Momentum would stay in the Rams' hands with Graham collecting a kick from Turner in the 68th minute with Turner adding the extras to make it 22-6.  

Frewin ran in his second try of the game with a superb play to put the game to bed in the 70th minute. 

Centre Tali would find the try line for a consolation try with six minute left on the clock. This would be the last score of the game as the Dons slumped to a 26-12 defeat.