Dewsbury Rams 20 Featherstone Rovers 14: Rams tough it out to see off Rovers fightback

Dewsbury's Tom Garratt and Jordan Andrade combine to stop Featherstone's Daniel Waite-Pullan. Picture: Tony Johnson.

DEWSBURY RAMS just shaded a tight clash with Betfred Championship rivals Featherstone Rovers in the first round of the relaunched Yorkshire Cup.

Rams scored four tries to three in a 20-14 success, but Rovers could take heart from a strong fightback after being 10-0 down inside 22 minutes.

The scores were level coming up to the hour mark and there were just two points in it until Rams grabbed the game’s seventh try with four minutes left.

Both teams are in transition under a new coach and clearly have a lot of work to do before their league campaigns begin next month, but there were positives to take from their second pre-season game.

Featherstone's Josh Walters is held up by the Dewsbuty defence. Picture: Tony Johnson.

Rams boss Lee Greenwood, whose team lost 16-10 at Batley Bulldogs on Boxing Day, included 13 new faces, a couple of them on trial, in his line-up.

The pick of them was forward Jordan Andrade, who played under Greenwood at Gloucestershire All Golds.

He scored Dewsbury’s best try – taking Paul Sykes’ smart pass – to edge the home team back in front in the second half.

Rovers, beaten 56-0 at Castleford Tigers in their opening pre-season game, featured only six players who played for them last year, including dual-registered Leeds Rhinos duo Josh Walters - who had a strong game - and Jack Ormondroyd.

Dewsbury's Michael Knowles and Featherstone's Daniel Maskill in action during the Yorkshire Cup clash. Picture: Tony Johnson.

The rest were trialists or new signings, plus another Leeds man Dan Waite-Pullan.

Reserve boss Paul March and conditioner Greg Stebbings were again in charge of the team, but new coach Ryan Carr is expected to arrive this week, along with Rovers’ Papua New Guinea recruits.