Kingstone Press Championship preview: Batley Bulldogs v Bradford Bulls

Reflecting on Batley’s 28-16 defeat at Sheffield Eagles last week, coach John Kear felt his team made too many mistakes.

“There were too many errors, and when you make errors it just makes for a scratchy, scruffy game,” he said.

“I think that’s the worst we have played all season. I can’t fault the effort and commitment but we’ve a lot to fix up.”

Looking ahead to the Bradford game he said: “You’d say it was one of the four toughest fixtures, but it’s a great test for us. The thing I’m most excited about is seeing the stadium full. It will be a great atmosphere and I’m hoping the players respond to the challenge, respond to the atmosphere and put on a great performance.”

Batley will be without scrum-half Scott Leatherbarrow who suffered a spiral fracture in his hand against Sheffield.

Bradford coach James Lowes admits he’s got something of a selection dilemma ahead of the game at Batley with Australian scrum-half Harry Siejka available again after a two-match ban.