Dewsbury Rams 50, Cougars 12

FURIOUS Cougar coach John Kain blasted his players after they slumped to a 50-point defeat at Dewsbury.

"I don't know how they can look at their reflection in the mirror each morning - their second half performance was a disgrace," he declared.

After a confident start which saw them just 12-8 down at the break, and with a strong wind at their backs in the second half things looked good for the Keighley side to record their first victory.

They powered into the Rams for the opening 10 minutes of the second period, but squandered a couple of clear chances to score - and fell apart as a team.

Just like at Rochdale the previous Tuesday, the Cougars really had a clear chance of taking the game, and as at Rochdale a catalogue of second half handling errors led to defeat. Add to that the dismissal of Rob Roberts and there were all the ingredients for disaster - or disgrace.

Dewsbury ran in seven second half tries, most of those directly from Cougar errors, and in the last quarter it all looked too easy.

There was no indication of what was to follow at the break.

The Cougars had started quite brightly. Matt Foster gave them an early lead when he ran onto a smart pass from Chris Robinson.

But Dewsbury hit back with two tries in as many minutes. The first was a real rarity these days, a penalty try awarded to Mark Haigh after having the ball ripped out as he struggled to cross the line - a stupid penalty, as Haigh didn't look as if he would get the ball down.

Barry Eaton converted, his first of seven, and two minutes later Dewsbury's man of the match Wayne Collins sent a lovely inside pass to Matt Bramald and he raced in for the first of his hat-trick of tries.

The Cougars had looked the better side all along, apart from that two-minute glitch, and soon got back on top.

Fred Sapatu found some space at last and his pass enabled Karl Smith to send Marlon Billy in at the corner. Dewsbury did manage a penalty, Phil Stephenson penalised for holding down.

Dave Larder nearly got Billy in again, but after a good break Larder's weak pass rolled forward and the chance was gone.

The second had began ominously, the ease with which Damien Ball sent Alan Boothroyd to the posts was a warning sign.

But Keighley kept at their job, on attack at least, and a superb pass from Robinson, and a better run from Larder as he burst through on the angle, then wrong-footed the fullback, brought the best try of the game, but again Robinson failed with the conversion.

After that it all went rapidly down hill.

Rob roberts, was dismissed for a high tackle on Bramald after following up his own kick.

Mark Campbell and Jason Lee broke superbly only for Billy to lose the ball, and again the chance to stay in the game was gone.

As the Cougar team work collapsed Dewsbury ran riot. Bramald completed his hat-trick, Barry Eaton added two tries to his seven goals, Leon Williamson and Dennis Bailey each bagged a late try.

Dewsbury looked to be walking in tries at will, but they came from a string of horrendous errors.

Billy's dropped pass resulted in Williamson's try three tackles later. Karl Smith's forward pass on his own line led to Eaton's first try, and so it went on. Sapatu's dropped pass led to Bramald's second.

The Cougars were reduced from a competent - but not brilliant - looking side in the first half to a complete and utter shambles late on.

They tried to play their way out of trouble from their own line when simple hit-up rugby and a deep kick would have put Dewsbury under pressure in their own half.

But you had to feel sorry for John Kain, his head is on the block, yet it wasn't him who got sent off, or dropped the ball 11 times, or missed a catalogue of second half tackles.

The players still need to forge together as a real team capable of overcoming the most rudimentary of set-backs.

At both Rochdale and Dewsbury refereeing decisions have gone against them, Roberts' recklessness was hardly punishable by sending off, yet that is part of the game and you have to accept it. Instead panic sets in, and in both games a competent looking side has fallen to pieces in a matter of minutes.

Few players emerged from the game with any credit. Mark Campbell impressed with his work rate, Phil Stephenson made good yards, Paul Owen and David Larder looked the most dangerous players in the Cougar line up.

Dewsbury Rams: Bramald; Bailey, Flynn, B Williams, Williamson; Ball, Eaton; Boothroyd, Collins, Rose, Spink, S Williams, Haigh. Subs: Brent, Kelly, Long, McKelvie.

Cougars: Foster; Billy, Irving, K Smith, Lee; Owen, Robinson; Stephenson, Ramshaw, Sapatu, Roberts, M Campbell, Larder. Subs: Walsh, Summerill, S Campbell, D Smith.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.