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Greenwood impressed with home display

Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood was impressed with his teams display on Saturday afternoon at the Tetley’s Stadium where Dewsbury defeated Featherstone 20-14 to reach the semi-final of the Yorkshire Cup.

The Rams put in a solid and at times stylish performance to get the win over Featherstone on Saturday.

On the victory Greenwood said: “It was a mirror image to our Boxing Day performance really, there we got better as it went along, and today I thought we played alright in the first half, it was a poor start to the second half. I suppose losing a man to the sin-bin and then the amount of defending we have had to do we have done well to win that game to be fair.

“There is food for thought really, some lads have done themselves plenty of favors, and some others not quite at the races or ready for this level yet. I knew that was going to be happen anyway, similar to Boxing Day. There is work to do with people and I have said to the lads that six or seven of them are playing their first game for ages and some of them are playing their first game at this level. We have done well there to win that against Featherstone who are a Championship team.”

One of the try scorers on the day was Jordan Andrade, and Greenwood was particularly pleased with his try.

Greenwood commented: “I liked Jordan’s (Andrade’s try) as it was the first time we put a really organised set together without just making it up as we went along to be fair. We sort of organised ourselves throughout the set and then had an organised play to finish the set and score the try and it looked quite good.

“We have got some big boys in there and it is quite hard to defend against when they are organised. When it’s sort of made up or we are just going to drop it then it is a bit easier to defend. There is plenty to work on, but plenty of positives as well, some of the defence was good, I was disappointed with some of the tries in the second half. I thought first half we defended well on our line, and it was only a little kick through they got us on. I thought in the second half we looked a little loose out on the right, so there are some areas to work on but its better to have areas to work on after a win.

“What I liked was when we had a bit of defending to do we came through it a bit stronger and actually scored a nice little try in the far corner.”

Greenwood believes that the competition will grow even further in the next few years, after making a great start this year.

He said: “I would be surprised if it doesn’t take off now, it’s the clubs that have put it together being honest which is why there is not much media backing from the RFL just yet, which isn’t a criticism, but it’s the clubs that have come up with it to try and get more people behind the pre-season friendlies, but it is great. There is a trophy to play for, the double headers are a great idea, it gives you chance to check out other teams, all the clubs in general get on even though there is a bit of rivalry out there.

“It was good that there was four teams here that you could talk to and you get to have a look at the other teams, and there was probably a better crowd here than what you would just get for a normal friendly, i’m sure it will take off.”

“When you get out there you want to win, I have played in plenty of friendlies myself you want to win, even if it wasn’t playing for a trophy you still want to win. Maybe no one wanted to get to extra time, I am not sure. You wanted to be in that winning hat when it’s drawn, and you still want to put your wins together, there is a trophy at stake and the fans will have enjoyed that we have won and are through to the winners side of the draw.

“Everyone is playing three games anyway so you may as well have a crack at trying to win all three rather than lose all three. Again though the bigger picture is we are gearing up to the first league game of the season. What may look like to naturals as random decisions, swapping people different sides and not going back on or just playing 40 minutes here and there then that was all part of the plan.”