Report by Ant Bullick
Photos by Gav Slater (gallery)
Nottingham Outlaws' coach Paul Calland feels there are plenty of positives to take from the game after five unanswered second half tries from Dewsbury Celtic saw the Yorkshire side run out 42-14 winners.
Nottingham started very well and played some excellent Rugby League giving Celtic all sorts of problems on both sides of the ball as they looked to kick-off the new campaign with a win.
But, crucially they failed to hold onto a ten point lead late in the first half and Dewsbury took full advantage of the slope in the second half to grab the victory.
Coaches Simon Morton and Calland were unable to call upon the services of influential duo Oliver Crick and Greg Moore which meant a new half-back partnership of Oliver Beech and Mike Harrison, with both men making their league debut for the club.
Reece Needham and Coryn Ward who have impressed during pre-season after graduating from the academy set-up were also given their first opportunity in the Co-Operative Rugby League Conference National with Needham starting at hooker and Ward taking his place amongst the interchanges.
Rob Brown also returned to the fray after missing much of last season through injury while George Strachan was captain.
It was evident within the first couple of minutes that there was going to be a lot of points in the game after Dom Walsh touched down for the Outlaws to put them into a 4-0 lead inside the first set of six.
Strong runs up the middle from Adam Millward and Strachan drove the visitors forward and they went for it on the last tackle and were rewarded when Walsh crossed the line.
Dewsbury hit back immediately when they made Nottingham pay for a penalty and worked the ball down the right hand side to level.
The end-to-end action continued when the Outlaws regained the lead through hard-working Millward. Dewsbury knocked on from the kick-off to gift Nottingham excellent field position and the Staffordshire hit-man needed no second invitation as he held off tackles to stretch over and touch down much to the delight of the travelling Outlaws supporters.
Walsh kicked his first successful kick of the game in blustery conditions to put the Outlaws six up and free-flowing rugby from Nottingham was the catalyst as they extended their lead five minutes later.
Melbourne Weir took an excellent pass from Strachan and raced 30 metres before being tackled. The Outlaws switched play and Tom Cliffe kept Dewsbury on the back-foot with a fine run from centre before play reverted back to the left hand side and Weir dived over in the corner despite close attention from the Celtic defence.
Dewsbury hit back as the second half drew to a close and hit Nottingham with two sucker punches to draw level at 14-all.
With the home side set to play down the slope in the second half, it was crucial the Outlaws kept an advantage over Celtic when the half-time whistle went and it was to prove costly that they failed to do so.
Still, at half-time all was to play for and there was belief that the Outlaws could still win the game but Dewsbury managed to find another level to run away with the game in the second half and score five tries.
Nottingham's cause was not helped when Millward left the game with a serious mouth injury at the start of the second half and Bryn Waldram saw yellow for dissent as frustrations got the better of last year's player of the season.
It was not all doom and gloom for the Outlaws in the second half and they showed glimpses of the rugby they played in the first half but on this occasion could not find that killer touch.
First Dan Reeds was unlucky not to find Weir when the winger had the try line at his mercy and then last season's top try scorer out-ran the entire Celtic team but was unlucky not to gather Beech's fantastic kick from the scrum.
Despite the score line, Calland insists his players will take a lot from that game and there were a lot of positives to build on ahead of next weekend's fixture against league new-comers Valley Cougars.
He said: "We (Calland and Morton) were very happy with the first half and it's hard to put your finger on how exactly things changed so dramatically in the second half.
"We were 14-8 after 39 minutes and everything was looking rosy and everything was going to plan, unfortunately it didn't carry on like that.
"The injury to Ads took its toll on us and reduced us to three interchanges and they also seemed to find another gear and we possibly dropped a level in intensity and lacked a little match fitness and they ended up running away with it really.
"But we're very pleased with the first half and how things went and we will look to build on that first half performance and take that into next week.
"I think the score line perhaps flattered them a little bit but we didn't really offer much in the second half so can't really complain that much about the score.
"I certainly thought at half time we could go on and win the game but it didn't turn out that way.
"There was a lot of lads making their debut today and I think they have learned quite a lot from today's game and there is plenty we can all take from it."
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