Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood was disappointed his side went out of the Challenge Cup on Sunday when they were defeated by Newcastle Thunder.
On the loss Greenwood said: “The performance wasn’t great was it, there was plenty of excuses to be made, whether it be a mid-week trip to Cumbria or the kind of different surfaces we were having to play on.
“It might have made a bit of difference at the start the different surface but I don’t think it had much of a difference on the players the longer the game went on. There were some good bits but I think some individuals will be disappointed in how they performed, and they don’t need telling about that.
“We have won four games on the spin and so we win together and now we lose together and although it sounds strange losing, it might do us some good. I’d rather put a display out like that in a cup game than a league fixture even though I don’t want us to put a performance like that on at all if we can help it. It might just remind players that if we aren’t playing above ourselves this is the outcome that can happen. It might make some players realise they aren’t as good as they thought they were.
Defensively that is the most we have conceded points wise and now people will talk about when we get away from the muddy pitches and on to the faster tracks we might struggle. On Sunday we did do, we sort of got surprised at the beginning and I was amazed that we were surprised because we had talked about it in the video session before the game, we knew it was coming. However we were still surprised it seems at how fast the play was on this surface. I don’t like saying we missed people, but I would say we missed our two centres particularly in defence, now whether they would have scored some of those tries with those two in I highly doubt it.
“We had people filling in, in different positions, it took us a while to adjust to those positions and maybe we never really properly adjusted. I would say there was a slight improvement after around 20 minutes or so. They are a good team and so in the beginning it didn’t feel safe in defence and then like I said after 20 minutes there was some improvement and it felt more safe.
“We don’t want those sorts of games where it’s you score then we score type of fixture, Newcastle are probably used to that sort of game on this pitch. However we don’t like those sorts of matches, we like to be in control and certainly better in defence. On Sunday we just weren’t quite good enough, but we have won four in a row, let’s dust it off and go again whenever that maybe.
“It is our first set back, and it’s the first loss we have had since the opening day, it’s the first really disappointing performance of the season. Teams go through this and you have to deal with it, it’s now how you react to it. It’s a test for your group now and how they can bounce back.
“There hasn’t been a blip yet, this is the first time it’s happened and so if we go through the whole season with four or five weeks being really good and one week being bad we would take that.”
