Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood got his first taste of action on the touchline when his side were defeated in the Boxing Day fixture to Batley.
The Rams were narrowly defeated 16-10 at Mount Pleasant where the Bulldogs won the Roy Powell trophy.
A new head coach and a new look team put in a spirited display particularly in the second half.
On the game Greenwood said: “It was as expected to be honest, with a new team coming together. We were switching people’s positions as the game went on, so I knew it was going to be messy.
“We showed pretty much nothing with ball in hand which is sort of what I wanted anyway. I just wanted us to be defensively sound and hard to beat. We started off pretty poorly to be honest, we dropped the ball the first four times we had it, leading to us conceding straight away off of their second set. Two guys got head cuts and then we had another straight after that.
“However we did get stronger as the game went along, fitness wise we looked somewhere near where we should be physically wise and way off ball in hand. Some stuff defensively wasn’t there but it is Boxing Day.
“I knew some people would surprise us in a good way and some in a bad way. To chuck another surprise in, I wasn’t surprised that, that was the case.
“I thought the best team won on the day, they look like a team going into their third season with the same coach and we look like a team with a new coach.
“We weren’t great on the ball and tried to barge our way over the line but I knew it was going to be like that as we haven’t worked loads on it yet.
“If Ryder scores that chance we had it could have been a draw. However overall the second half was a lot more positive than the first.
“It is really easy once you are behind here by a couple of scores and playing uphill to just fall away and get beat comfortably. As a neutral watching you maybe thought that, that was going to happen, however the lads improved second half and we defended our try line well apart from one weak effort. If we had worked a bit more with the ball and asked them to do other things with the ball I would have liked to think we would have won it.
“There is some stuff I wouldn’t have been pleased to see at Siddal. However from where both teams were at from the start there is things that still need fixing up on both sides, if not then it could be very long season. There is a lot of things to work on, but they are an established Championship side and I thought we competed well with them.”
The Rams next face Featherstone on the 5th January in the Yorkshire Cup. Tickets can be bought from the club reception or you can pay on the day.
To find out more about the Yorkshire Cup and game prices click here: https://dewsburyrams.co.uk/2018/12/07/yorkshire-cup-statement/
