‘We had a really good stint at defending’ - Jaymes Chapman praises Dewsbury Rams’ rearguard in Boxing Day draw with Batley Bulldogs

Despite establishing a 12-0 advantage thanks to tries from Ronan Dixon and Louis Collinson, it was an error strewn display from the Rams, who conceded 25 penalties throughout, mainly due to play-the-ball offences.

However, the dominant Bulldogs finally broke through Dewsbury’s stern defence courtesy of tries from debutants Joe Burton and Luke Cooper to ensure a 12-12 draw.

Chapman said after the game: “Performance wise, it was great. It was a great effort. We had a really good stint at defending for 70 minutes. I can’t fault the efforts of the lads as we spent the majority of the time defending.

“If you look at the penalty count, it is something we need to take some direction from the RFL and potentially have someone come in and explain to us what that ruling looks like.

“Effectively, the penalty count was 25 to 9. If you look at the law of averages we spent 60 per cent less time with the ball than Batley did and you can’t win a game without the ball.

“But the lads dug in and it was a really great effort. You can quite clearly see that we’re fit and ready to defend a game. We just need to get hold of the ball and attack.”

New law amendments have come into force for the 2024 season with the RFL looking to clean up the ruck area and players being sanctioned if the ball carriers do not make a genuine attempt to play the ball with their feet.

Chapman said: “We will certainly be looking at markers and play the ball but we need some direction in regards to that. We will be looking to get a bit fitter and stronger and making sure we have enough good ball and are able to attack.

“You can’t spend 60 to 70 minutes of a game defending. We will be working on that. If you halved the penalty count the scoreline is totally different. We looked really polished in some areas but there are some areas which we need to scrub up on. When we were free flowing and in attack we looked threatening.”

He added: “The whole team, collectively and in defence, it was a great effort. They all dug in and stuck together. You could see a united team in defence.

“Bailey Dawson looked sharp, Ollie Greensmith, week in week out carries the ball really hard. Jimmy (Beckett) and Ronan (Dixon) really stood out and carried the ball really well.

“Joe Summers before he came off with injury really impressed me as well.

“I am happier and thrilled with the fact that the team stuck together collectively because that had the potential to be a bigger scoreline than it was.

“Nobody, I don’t care who you are, can defend on your line for as long as we did there and not hold out. It was inevitable that Batley were going to score at some point because we just didn’t have any ball in attack.”