Swinton’s hopes of avoiding relegation took a severe blow as a strong second-half performance from Dewsbury Rams puts the Lions six points adrift of safety.
Luke Waterworth scored his third try of the season at Tetley’s Stadium
The Lions suffered a crushing defeat in their race to escape relegation to Championship One despite a strong first half performance where they held the lead twice but fell away badly in the second have as the Rams took control to put them in a safe position.
Mike Butt had a try cancelled out in the fourteenth minute when he went over in the right corner but the pass from Josh Woods was judged forward. Then Rob Fairclough was obstructed as he tried a kick and chase in midfield and from the resulting penalty, the Lions put pressure on the line and Luke Waterworth darted over for a try to the right of the posts with Fairclough adding the conversion.
The Rams hit back on twenty-five minutes when Robbie Ward darted over from close range and Paul Sykes converted to level the scores. Jack Hansen made a try saving tackle six minutes from the break when it looked like prop forward Jack Teanby would score. But it was the Lions that would finish the half strongest and two minutes from the break Josh Woods slotted over a neat drop goal to put Swinton in the lead at the break.
The Rams went ahead for the first time on forty-six minutes when Dom Speakman went over by the posts and Sykes again converted, but the Lions lost Josh Barlow at this point for ten minutes after he argued with the referee. Hansen then made another try saving tackle when Josh Guzdek broke free with support but the Lions full back got man and ball to stop the danger.
The next try was a disputed one with a scrum ten metres from the Lions line, Woods fed the ball in and it was trapped in the scrum by Rhodri Lloyd when he put his foot on the ball. The Rams contested it by kicking it and it ran free with Adam Ryder picking it up to dive over and score on the left with Sykes again converting it.
The home side added another try five minutes later when Aaron Brown went over and Sykes again added the simple conversion. The Lions then had some rare pressure on the Rams line with Paul Wood and Ben Austin being held up in the same set of six.
Mike Butt appeared to have been knocked out in a tackle on sixty-four minutes and had to leave the field for a head test before returning later in the game. But it was the Rams who finished strongly in the final thirteen minutes running in three more tries with Gareth Potts, Michael Knowles and Guzdek all going over and Sykes converting two of them.
