Dewsbury v London Skolars preview: Liam Finn 'focussing on defence' as Rams head into second half of season

The Rams’ 100 per cent record came to an end last weekend at Oldham in the thrilling 26-26 draw, although they had to recover from a ten-point deficit with only ten minutes remaining to ensure they travelled back to West Yorkshire with a point.

“Oldham are a good team,” Finn reflected. “We knew that and they played really well. We were a bit below our standards and chasing our tails for most of the game. But we showed some character and some grit just to hang in the battle.”

Finn’s attention now turns to the Skolars who produced a stirring second half performance against the Rams earlier in the season. Dewsbury still won the game 48-16, but Finn is still wary of London’s threat, having scored all of their 30 points in the 60-30 defeat at Doncaster last weekend in the second half.

He said: “First and foremost we want to get the job done and, secondary to that, we need to be tidy in defence because we let ourselves down a little bit in the second half down there a few weeks ago. We want to improve on that.

“We will be focussing on our defence this week and making sure we are on it defensively. And, on the back of that, we need to be more composed on the ball and a bit more clinical than what we were in the second half when we last played them.”

He added: “Lamont Bryan is still a bit of a threat having played in Super League with London Broncos. He is still a big strong ball carrying forward.

“That half time against us was probably a turning point in their season. They came out and showed some fight and seem to have been scrapping for everything ever since that. We need to make sure that we are prepared.”

Assessing the season at the halfway point, Finn said:

“We are going about our business and trying to prepare the best we can. We had a tough pre-season, the lads enjoyed it while working really hard and we’ve reaped the rewards in the first half of the season.

“But, at the minute, that doesn’t count for anything. It is literally down to one win. There are nine games to go and we need to keep pushing.”