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Greenwood reviews Toronto defeat

Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood was proud of his teams effort against Toronto but is equally disappointed with the loss.

He said after the 22-17 defeat: “It’s been not robbed from us, it’s certainly not the feeling I have got, that is almost like someone has stole what you deserve. Listen we played well for a while but we didn’t do enough to win it which is disappointing. We got ourselves in to a great position and then just saw our league wiped out. This is the same conversation that we had in round 1 against York when we were in control of things.

“We conceded one try and then the energy that they get and we lose is incredible really. There is a big culture change that I need to bring into this club in general, even in the supporters you could feel it a little bit. We all need to work together because hopefully there will be a lot of times where we are in the lead and then concede a try it’s just rugby. You have to be a lot better and not drop into a massive hole and almost just beat yourself.

“We all know that nonsense about budgets, once you are out on that pitch and built a lead up like that we should go on to win it. For 60 minutes I thought we were more than capable physically matching them. It is just disappointing from me as it was the same as the York game. I don’t think you can look at the fitness it’s a mentality thing. I’m not in it and I hope the lads are not in it just to get pats on the back for narrow defeats because I want to win.

“That is four games now where we have put a plan in place, selected a side and prepared hard in training to have won all four of them but yet we just sit here on one win, that’s how I look at it.

“We know Toronto are big but it’s not like we are small either are we. We have got some big strong athletes, I never thought we would get out muscled to be honest. The conditions meant they were never gonna out pace us, you had to be careful how you played the ball, it was a physical battle and I thought we were good in that. That’s how we built our lead, through their ill-discipline and our good dominant play. To see that lead go so quickly and disappear is disappointing. I should be sat here proud of their efforts but I’m disappointed because we could have won it.

“The turning point is how we react to them scoring their first try. You can look at referee decisions all you want but that gives us an excuse to not winning a game from a promising position.

“We will get pats on the back but that doesn’t keep you in this division. We are sat here on three points and we should be on eight. We should have won these games, we haven’t and now we have to keep looking over our shoulder and being at the bottom of the table. That is where we are never mind who we’ve played and who has or hasn’t written us off. We should be on eight points with the effort we have put in.

“We’ll need to improve on that as it won’t be every week where we get ourselves into a winning position. There are gonna be times where we might need to chase leads. We have got to learn when we get into that position how to react to that first try.”