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Kelly hails pack effort in win over Swinton

Rams boss Neil Kelly hailed the contribution of his forwards in Sunday’s victory over Swinton Lions.

Dewsbury scored 20 unanswered points to make it three wins from four so far this season.

“I thought Matty English and Toby Everett were the big difference in taking us forward. Both players, supported by Dom Speakman, made a real big impact in the side,” said Kelly.

“That was a good positive to take from the game because sometimes, when we have taken Jode Sheriffe and Jack Teanby off, the intensity has dropped.

“However, against Swinton, that wasn’t the case and both Matty and Toby played brilliantly.”

Tries from Rob Spicer, Macauley Hallett and Aaron Brown, and four goals from Paul Sykes, guided the hosts to victory against their opponents from across the Pennines.

“I thought we played well and it was nice to get the win, although sometimes we over elaborated on our play more than what we needed to do.

“Rugby League is a simple game. You have to beat them up the middle first, before you start to play your good football.

“Sometimes I thought we bypassed that simple bit and went straight to the more complicated plays.

“We spoke at half-time about what we had done well and not so well, and we wanted to make sure that we were better in the second half.

“The big glaring thing was that we needed to go forward more, and stop going from side to side, because that made it easier for Swinton.

“Once we started to go forward, we looked a lot better.

“But I am watching the game like all the supporters are and I can see that we are trying to score classy tries early on in sets,” Kelly continued.

“We know we have good try scorers and we have scored some great tries so far this season, but you can’t do that against a set defence until you’ve pushed them onto the back foot.”

Kelly was also left pleased by his players’ tackling effort. Swinton were unable to get on the scoreboard, and the Rams now boast the best defensive record in the competition.

“We can talk about not going forward and going from side to side, but something that we have been good at all season so far is our defence.

“Obviously, it is something we can still work on, but overall I thought our defence was really good.

“Of course, it is good to zero a side, but, even if Swinton scored in the last few moments, it shouldn’t take away from how well we have defended all through the game.

“We just have to make sure we keep that defensive work up in the next few weeks, because we have some tough fixtures coming up.”