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Greenwood previews Halifax

Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood has given his thoughts ahead of this weekend’s big clash in the Betfred Championship between Dewsbury Rams and Halifax.

The Rams are looking to get back on track after losing away at Sheffield last Friday evening, meanwhile Halifax will be hoping to come away from the fixture without any major injuries before their Challenge Cup semi-final fixture against St Helens.

On the game on Sunday, Greenwood said: “They are a good side and they beat Widnes comfortably last weekend, and that is what we have been used to over the last few years, and that is what we saw on Sunday against Widnes.

“We need to prepare like they are going to come with that level of intensity this week and they have done that twice to us this season so we can’t expect anything less than Halifax at their best. Forget about next week but I think they’ll want to go into that one with form and there will be people playing in the team on Sunday who will want to stake a claim to get into the side that will face St Helens. I can’t image Halifax as anything but at their absolute best.

“I thought we would put up more of a test against them away, but it was played in bad conditions for whatever reason and they handled them a lot better and were more mentally prepared than what we were. They are good side that have been hiding a little bit, I don’t know the ins and outs of what has gone on their this year, but they are disappointed with where they are in the league. They are well short of the playoffs and they haven’t been the same team across the season like they have been in the past. On the odd occasion they have pulled out the performances, like on Sunday and in the Challenge Cup and against us twice this season.

“We just need to concentrate on ourselves, in the last three games we have competed, performed well in the main, and been unlucky to be on the end of two defeats out of three to be honest. That is all we have asked for now, can we have that level of performance and intensity every week and then put ourselves in with a chance of winning it in the dying stages. We did that at York, we did it at Sheffield and we obviously did it at home against Barrow, that’s three in a row, have we done it four games in a row this season? no and that is the challenge regardless of the opposition.

“You know what Halifax are going to do, they like to whack you early, get a score up early and back the defence. They like to catch you by surprise, not by knocking a score up but by starving you of possession and field position, and they like to start more aggressive than you. That is what we’ll expect Sunday, that’s the script that Halifax have built themselves around in the last few year. A good strong defence and taking you by surprise with the physical element right at the start. They have done that with us the last two times. There will be no surprises from Halifax, and that is what we’ll be preparing for, they get in front early and defend well, and use their quality players, it’s their physical element that they get you with at the start. We just haven’t been able to cope with that in the last two fixtures against them and that is what the starting 13 need to be ready for.

“We have got quite a few injuries in the squad, but that is no different to other teams, but whilst the team are doing ok I don’t really want to make that many changes through choice, but obviously some injuries might force changes.”