Kingstone Press Championship preview: Dewsbury Rams v Featherstone Rovers

Having played three games in seven days, Dewsbury coach Glenn Morrison is happy with his team’s progress.

“We did a good job last week against Newcastle,” he said. “Completion-wise we weren’t the best but we got the job done.

“We were able to give three youngsters their debuts and another three had their first game of the year for us so having played three games in a week and getting the result up at Workington it was a job well done.

“There were about eight people who we rested last week so they will be back in the mix this week.”

Looking ahead to the Featherstone game he said: “I don’t like looking at the table too much but we are in fifth and Featherstone are in sixth.

“We play Batley, who are in seventh, the week after so they are a big couple of games for us. If we can get wins here it can cement our spot and give us a little bit of a buffer but if we lose them, then we’re down in the mix again so it is a big game for both teams and should be a good battle.”

Andy Hay, the Featherstone coach said: “It was a good performance last week against Whitehaven, we needed it and gained a bit of confidence from it. The group as a whole played well and there were some good individual performances.

“Dewsbury have got a good track record against us at home and they are a quality side. They played three games in a week but I think he rested a lot of his players for the cup game so I’m expecting a real tough game.

“We’re looking forward to it, we want to give a good account of ourselves against opposition who are in and around us. We need to be playing well in these games. It’s going to be a big contest and an important one for us.”