Lee Greenwood spoke to the Rams media team after a hard fought draw against Sheffield Eagles.
A cliche Lee, but that seemed like a game of two halves. A good performance in the first half and under the pump the second.
“The scoreboard may have looked like that, but our performance was probably the same throughout the game. We spent a lot of the game in our own half and Sheffield were down our end most of it. We were making errors coming out of our half and they were making errors going towards our posts. That seemed to be the theme for the full 80 minutes if I’m honest.
“I’m not sure how we were 18-4 up with that territory, but it was down to some good defence and Sheffield dropping the ball.
“It should have been a match winning lead. It was a wet afternoon and the pitch is tight and if you can defend and complete your fair share of sets you should be OK, but we didn’t and we gave far too many opportunities to Sheffield. It was only a matter of time and I’m amazed it took them so long to score, but that is a testament to our defence.
“Once they got in they scored another one straight afterwards and then you are looking at Sheffield probably going on to win the game.
It must be disappointing that we scored no points in the second half.
“Yes, of course, but at the moment it is scratchy. We have players playing everywhere at the moment and players dropping out before kick-off. We name a team on the Friday, train with that team and then it all changes when it comes to game day.
“We scored a couple in the first half, but there was a bit of frustration in that second half, but I will say that should have been a winning score in these conditions. We lost our discipline and that’s poor.
Talking about discipline, what are your views on the call at the end with Liam Finn?
“It looks like we have reacted to something and the referee has seen the reaction. When you are winning you have to deal with the provocation and not do anything to give away penalties.
“When I look at the video, I’m sure something will have happened to our player first, but Finn has reacted and that’s what the referee has seen. That happened a few times during the game and it’s something we spoke about at half time.
Were there any players that stood out today?
“It was a decent effort by the lads, but there was just far too much work to do. There were errors and then last tackle six again sets. It was too easy for Sheffield and that is probably why they looked energised in that second half. If you had told me the what the territory and completion rate was before the game I would have said Sheffield would win by 30 points.
“When you end up drawing the game right at the end of course it feels like a loss. We actually did well to draw the game at the end.
Have there been any new injuries or knocks today?
“I’m not sure yet. You usually find that when we turn up for training on a Tuesday a couple may have knocks that rules them out of the next game.
“At the moment it is silly in terms of players we have to choose from. The 17 you see on game day are literally the only 17 we have to take the field and this has been the same the last few weeks.
Robbie Storey came in this week, but didn’t come off the bench till late on.
“I thought the issue was with our middle players, so they needed the rotation. He has only had a couple of training sessions, but as I said we only have 17 players fit so he had to be named.
Have you got your eye on any other players to come in?
“It’s hard, everybody is looking for players. A lot of teams have only 17 or 18 players fit at the moment or not isolating due to Covid. Even Super League teams can’t raise teams at the moment. There aren’t many players about at all.
On to next week away at Newcastle. What are your thoughts?
“It will be tough. They are a full-time outfit and they seem to be getting better as they get further into the season. They have spent a lot of money and have a lot of Lancashire lads in their squad who have played at various levels.
