Dewsbury Rams will ‘learn a lot’ from Hunslet defeat says Liam Finn

Second placed Hunslet kept their own title dreams alive thanks to the thrilling 16-14 victory, as Brad Graham’s double, sandwiched between a Bailey O’Connor try, wasn’t enough to seal the winners’ medals for the Rams at the South Leeds Stadium.

“Just disappointment,” replied Finn when asked what his feelings were after the final hooter sounded. “We are all disappointed not to get the job done today. But it is what it is. It’s a group of young blokes who need to learn how to play in those big games.

“It’s probably the first game of serious consequence for a lot of them and the rest probably haven’t played in that many. We need to learn from it and make sure we are better next week.

“There will be a lot of people who will learn a lot from playing in that. Ultimately, we weren’t good enough to win the game.

“You saw from their (Hunslet) reaction after the game that it meant an awful lot to them. Well done to them.”

Batley Bulldogs’ loanee Johnny Campbell, who scored four tries against the Rams exactly a year ago to the day in the 60-6 Heavy Woollen Summer Bash derby at Headingley, crossed within the first minute to give Hunslet the perfect start.

The Rams responded well through Graham’s first try and were dominant throughout the remainder of the half until Matty Beharrell crossed just before the interval to regain Hunslet’s lead.

“Terrible,” Finn said of the start. “Try line ‘D’ is something we need to work on because they only attacked our line twice in the first half and they scored twice. They got another one in the second half which was poor defence.

“It was a game where we got on top physically for large periods but our try line ‘D’ wasn’t good enough and our try line attack wasn’t particularly good enough.

“We got a little bit too excited. I think the best way to describe it is probably tetchy and nervy. We didn’t deal with the consequences of what the outcomes were going to be during the game and we were really jumpy and not calm like we have been most of the year.”

Despite Finn’s disappointment, he is already looking ahead as victory against Workington Town at FLAIR Stadium next Sunday, or at Doncaster on the last day of the season, will seal the title.

He said: “I am massively disappointed but the positive is that they’ve been good enough this year, all year, to give ourselves three games to get the job done. It cranks up the pressure a bit, losing this one, but it wasn’t do or die. We have got to make sure we get recovered and get ready to go again next week.

“It’s a setback but that’s what happens in sport and what happens in life. We’re not going to get too upset about it. We’ve got another chance next week. Hopefully we can recover and go again.”