Understrength Rams suffer defeat at York

Coach Lee Greenwood made a number of changes as he chose to rest the likes of Simon Brown, Matty Nicholson, captain Paul Sykes and hooker Robbie Ward, while handing a chance to a number of fringe players.

Greenwood opted to travel with 17 players but the Rams were hampered further when Charlie Martin was forced off with a bloody nose in midway through the first half.

York — who pushed Batley close in the Yorkshire Cup semi-final the previous week — showed their attacking prowess as they ran in seven tries.

Former Ram Jack Teanby had a strong game and posed problems for his former club.

Dewsbury were forced to defend early on but a great cover tackle forced Brad Hey into touch by the corner flag after he was sent through a gap.

Teanby looked to have broken the deadlock after nine minutes when he collected Will Jubb’s pass to go over the line only to be brought back for a forward pass.

Dewsbury replied with a spell of pressure of their own but were unable to break York’s defence and it was the Knights who went ahead after 24 minutes.

Full-back Matty Marsh broke through and managed to get a pass out of a tackle for the onrushing Dave Petersen to score and Connor Robinson converted.

York extended their lead nine minutes later when Ben Cockayne kicked through and Ash Robson managed to keep the ball in play with his foot and won the race to pick it up and score.

A Dewsbury move broke down and York counter attacked as Hey made a fine run out of defence.

Second-row Liam Salter drove the Knights forward before Jubb fed Marcus Stock to beat the cover defence to touch down and put his side 14-0 ahead at half-time.

York went on to add a further four tries in the second half.

Hey produced a neat offload to send winger Judah Mazive racing down the touchline before he passed inside for Marsh to race over after 50 minutes.

Robinson, who missed two out of three conversions in the first half, tagged on his second goal.

York were looking slick on attack and they produced another quick move which ended with Mazive scoring in the corner but it was too wide out for Robinson to improve.

Cockayne beat a Rams defender to set up another attack and send trialist Reece Rushworth over for the Knights sixth try, which Robinson converted to extend the lead to 30-0.

The scoring was completed six minutes from full-time as Robson capitalised on some weak Rams tackling to cross for his second try.

It completed the Rams pre-season programme but they are sure to have a much stronger side on duty for their opening Championship game at Rochdale on February 3.