Rams ready for Halifax Challenge Cup test

Dewsbury beat amateur sides West Hull and Thatto Heath to reach the sixth round but they face a step up in class against Halifax, who have won on their last four visits to the Rams.

Dewsbury go into the game on the back of last week’s 38-0 Championship defeat to high flying Toulouse and coach Lee Greenwood admitted there was a gulf in class between the full timers and his Rams side, who had defeated Widnes the previous week.

Greenwood added: “Halifax will be coming here to get through to the next round of the cup. From where we are I will be looking for a response from the team and an improvement on the last couple of home games.

“We need to see a response, as our last two home games have not been good viewing for our supporters.

“We have players who did not play (against Toulouse), due to rewarding the players who played against Widnes, so we may see some changes in the side for the cup game against Halifax.

“We are still learning which of our squad can play every week and do a good job and who can just play the odd game. It is a work in progress and this will not change all season.

“I’m not faulting effort, we just needed every player to bring their best game if we were going to challenge Toulouse. Maybe I was expecting too much two weeks in a row.”

Samy Kibula will come back into contention tomorrow after missing the Toulouse game through injury but club captain Paul Sykes is still a few weeks away from fitness, while Lucas Walshaw is suffering from a neck complaint.

Greenwood added: “We have others coming back from injury, who will be training this week, and we will see if we can give Halifax a better game than we gave Toulouse.”