Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood was happy with his side’s first run out of 2021.
Dewsbury defeated Batley 22-20 at Mount Pleasant in a game which has been 12 months in the making for both sets of players.
On the win and performance Greenwood said: “It was probably what we expected really. You hope you get some of the new lads showing up and performing, you hope that some of the stuff you work on in training comes off in the game and I think that’s what we got
“Listen we wanted to beat Batley of course we do. We played them last year and drew. This win over Batley is my first since being at the club so it feels great. I dare say over 80 minutes we deserved to win it too in my opinion.
“We had set out before the game who would play what minute ect. It was pretty much a brand new 13 for the second half.
“Overall I was pleased with the performance and result and we scored a couple of nice tries too.
“It was quite even the game at times where both teams had spells on top. However I think overall we deserved to win.
“I thought the players stood up well physically and with some you couldn’t tell they’d had 12 months off.
“There are loads of positives to take from the game. It was good to get the win and whilst I don’t usually take much out of results for pre-season what pleased me was how we won it with two different teams.
“The players will be feeling it after that, there’s no doubt about it. We have come out of it with no major injuries. Bayley Liu had concussion and had to come off and we’ll check on him over the next few days.”
The Rams next week face Wakefield Trinity in their second pre-season friendly. Greenwood believes it will create a step up in preparations for the 2021 campaign.
“This is their only friendly against us, they’ll have some top players playing in the game. It’s a chance for us to go to a Super League ground and show what we can do.
“I think it will be a good test for us, it’s not something we need to be worried about. It’s a game we should really look forward to.”
