FEATHERSTONE ROVERS head coach James Ford has reflected on his side’s 28-14 win over Dewsbury Rams at The Millennium Stadium yesterday.
Rovers were 16-0 up at half-time, but conceded three quickfire tries after the break to set up a nervy finish, before tries from Greg Minikin, Brad Day and Manoa Wacokecoke eased the home fans’ fears.
Ford was happy about the experience given to a number of young starlets such as Charlie Harris, Joe Abson and Ollie Farrar, but knows his side needs to improve.
“I’m pleased to get the win, Dewsbury are another Championship team that we have beaten,” Ford told League Express.
“There were an awful lot of younger, inexperienced players out there and I think they are handling themselves really well. I’m really pleased with the direction they are going in and I am excited about the journey we can take them on.
“There’s lots to learn, we started the second-half poorly again so there is obviously something there. Just after half-time in the Bradford game it was probably the worst three minutes of rugby I’ve seen for a while and we did exactly the same against Dewsbury.
“I thought we found ways to let the pressure off with shoulder charges, ball steals, markers not being square, conceding offloads. There are clear areas for us to go after. We went after it last week but we didn’t quite get there.”
Impressive French halfback Thomas Lacans was taken off in the second-half, with Ford confirming it was to protect him following a tight hamstring.
“We rested Thomas, he had a little bit of tightness in hamstring that was a bit of a red flag but we are not concerned.
“We just pulled him off the field in a bid to try and protect him moving forward.”
What has been evident in recent weeks is the new focus on the play-the-ball by officials following a new directive issued by the RFL.
The RFL, in a statement late last year, said: “Players, coaches and match officials have agreed to see greater sanction for flops, hands on the ball-by-ball carriers and to ensure that ball carriers regain their feet on the mark and make a genuine attempt to play the ball with the foot.”
In doing so, there have been countless turnovers in pre-season friendlies so far as players get to grips with the new rulings.
For Ford, however, he believes fans could be turned off moving forward.
“I think they are trying to bring it into line with the NRL so it’s a little bit more consistent when we play international rugby league.
“It slows the game down, certainly in those kind of conditions. I think they have gone after three or four areas in one season. I watched the Dewsbury-Batley game before the New Year and there were 33 penalties. It was a tough watch.
“In hindsight, it might have been better doing one or two this year and then one or two next year because we have got the tackle height change next year too.
“There is the potential risk that rugby league supporters are going to see a penalty-a-thon for the next two years.
“We are working really hard at nailing that in training and in matches but we have still seen us making a mistake two or three times in games so far.”
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