THERE is a saying which has become popular in the world of Major League Baseball in recent years: The other guy lives in a big house, too.

True, there are perhaps not many – if any – players in the Betfred Championship who do, in fact, live in big houses, but the point behind it still stands; that your opponents are at this level because they are pretty good as well.

One or two outlying results aside, Barrow Raiders are certainly showing themselves to be worthy opponents for anyone who comes up against them following their promotion from League One last year, and yesterday's victory over Dewsbury Rams at Craven Park further underlined that.

After all, who would have predicted beforehand they would run up 58 points against one of the more established part-time teams in the division, even with their impressive home record over the past two years and the Rams seemingly in free-fall on the back of nine straight losses?

But then again, how many would have expected the visitors to respond with 32 points of their own – a tally which, on the road especially, would normally be enough to secure victory?

That, though, is exactly what happened, with Barrow playing some scintillating attacking rugby to run up their highest points tally of the season so far and Dewsbury showing how dangerous they can be in the opposition
20-metre zone, where most of their tries came from.

Not that Raiders head coach Paul Crarey will lose too much sleep over how the Rams managed to rally somewhat after four tries in the space of nine minutes from the hosts early in the second half had all but killed off this encounter as a contest though.

Instead, the fact his side were able to rack up over 50 points and score 10 tries from nine different players, all while having to contend with more injuries which this time ended Joe Bullock and Andy Litherland's participation in the match, will be what he prefers to focus on.

Perhaps then, a different maxim from the world of American sport applies here – that of late head coach and owner of the Oakland Raiders, Al Davis: Just win, baby.

Indeed, just win is all rugby league's Raiders need to keep doing if they are to retain their Championship status. The victory over Dewsbury took them onto 10 points and puts them comfortably mid-table ahead of back-to-back games against the bottom three of Swinton Lions, Sheffield Eagles and Rochdale Hornets.

And it does not matter how those victories come, as long as they come.

The opening 11 minutes of the game with Dewsbury, which had been re-arranged following a postponement due to a frozen pitch in March, did not suggest what ultimately transpired was what lay ahead those, with little to choose between either team.

That was until a penalty following a high tackle on Martin Aspinwall allowed Barrow to gain some ascendancy and finished with Nathan Mossop setting up Bullock to power over for the opening try, followed by Jamie Dallimore kicking the first of nine successful conversions.

Two tries in three minutes for the Rams saw them briefly in front; first when Aaron Brown dummied his way through the defence on 16 minutes and the second when the ball was worked out for Josh Guzdek to score, both of which were converted by James Glover.

The rest of the half was all Barrow though, starting on 25 minutes when Dallimore set up Jono Smith for a try and continuing two minutes later when Litherland set Gene Ormsby rampaging down the left wing for an unconverted score from 40 metres out with a supreme show of pace and strength.

A simple yet effective last-tackle play close to the line saw Ryan Duffy burst through a gap for his third try of the season on 35 minutes and there was still time before the break for stand-off Dallimore to grab a try, coming after the outstanding Jarrad Stack out-jumped a defender for a high ball and set him out.

Then came the period after the break which took the match beyond the Rams, first with Stack again leaping for a high kick from Johnston to score and then him setting up fellow Australian Dean Parata to go over.

Second row Stack added another in the 53rd minute and two minutes later, Ryan Fieldhouse got in on the act to take the Raiders to the half-century mark.

Dewsbury were not done though and a brief flurry saw full-back Guzdek and Macaulay Hallett both get over as Barrow struggled to contain them, not helped by giving away penalties.

Danny Morrow's 71st-minute try snuffed out any forlorn hopes the visitors might have had of mounting an improbable fightback, although Samuel Day and Guzek, for his hat-trick, did get over before the hooter sounded to bring a high-scoring encounter to a close.

Barrow Raiders: Ryan Fieldhouse 7; Shane Toal 7, Declan Hulme 7, Andy Litherland 7, Gene Ormsby 7; Jamie Dallimore 7, Ryan Johnston 8; Joe Bullock 7, Nathan Mossop 7, Alec Susino 7, Jono Smith 8, Jarrad Stack 9, Martin Aspinwall 7. Interchange: Dean Parata 7, Danny Morrow 7, Glenn Riley 7, Ryan Duffy 7.

Dewsbury Rams: Josh Guzdek; Gareth Potts, James Glover, Macauley Hallett, Dale Morton; Aaron Brown, Gareth Moore; Jode Sheriffe, Robbie Ward, Jack Teanby, Lucas Walshaw, Michael Knowles, Jordan Crowther. Interchange: Samuel Day, Martyn Reilly, Kyle Trout, Toby Everett.

Referee: John McMullen.

Attendance: 1,061.

Playback: 11 – Bullock try, Dallimore conv (6-0); 16 – Brown try, Glover conv (6-6); 19 – Guzdek try, Glover conv (6-12); 25 – Smith try, Dallimore conv (12-12); 27 – Ormsby try (16-12); 35 – Duffy try, Dallimore conv (22-12); 38 – Dallimore try and conv (28-12); 46 – Stack try, Dallimore conv (34-12); 48 – Parata try, Dallimore conv (40-12); 53 – Stack try, Dallimore conv (46-12); 55 – Fieldhouse try, Dallimore conv (52-12); 58 – Guzdek try (52-16); 64 – Hallett try, Glover conv (52-22); 71 – Morrow try, Dallimore conv (58-22); 73 – Day try, Glover conv (58-28); 78 – Guzdek try (58-32).

Raiders star man: Jarrad Stack: Scored two tries and set another up, along with doing superbly well to jump for two high balls and continuing to excel when having to play at centre and loose forward due to injuries later on in the match.