Rams head coach Neil Kelly has offered his thoughts following Sunday’s 36-0 defeat away at Leigh Centurions.
The hosts scored three tries in either half, all of which were converted, to inflict Dewsbury’s third league defeat of the season.
“I thought the players showed tremendous spirit and I can’t fault their effort, but you can’t be poor in contact and be poor in shape when you have the ball,” he said.
“If you have poor shape and fall foul of the referee then you won’t threaten an opponent, and that’s a lesson we have to learn.
“We were playing a full-time side and gave a lot of penalties away, particularly in the first half.
“If you are going to beat a full-time side, you need to complete all your sets and there was a period in that first half that we managed to wise up and go toe to toe with them.
“Looking back on it, whether all those penalties were justified – who knows – but they were penalties all the same and if you give so many away, you’re going to suffer.”
Kelly insists he’ll take positives from the match, as he prepares his players for a busy Easter period, though concedes that the team still has lessons to learn.
“We’ve lost 36-0, which is well and truly beaten, but I’m not going home disappointed.
“I’m going home thinking we have got a group of players here with the right fight, attitude and spirit.
“I think with a couple of additions we can go somewhere with this, but the players have to get fitter and wiser first off.
“Making those chances count is the difference between the teams in the division above and the league below.
“You have to train yourself habitually to take those chances and once you have trained habitually then overall you’ll be competitive and against most teams in this division you will get a victory.”
The defeat means the Rams now have a 50% record from their first six matches, and Kelly is eager for the players to develop further in the months ahead, following losses to three of the division’s top sides.
“I can see where our next road to development is,” he said.
“It might be a tough road to get there but I think we have got a clear view of where we are going.
“Leigh are a different side to Toulouse, in that they don’t play as much football, and they are having to get rid of their own demons at the moment.
“I thought we had a stronger side out against Leigh than what we did against Toulouse, and I knew that if we wanted to do well here, we’d to complete our sets and have a good defence.
“I had more hope that we would get a win at Leigh, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”
