Dewsbury Rams host the Wigan Warriors on Sunday afternoon in the 6th Round of the Challenge Cup. Dewsbury are a side struggling in the Championship, and will be looking for something special to try and cause an upset over the Cup favourites.
LAST TIME OUT
Dewsbury go into the game on the back of a 32-28 defeat at Sheffield. Coach, Glenn Morrison was clearly disappointed by the defeat. “It was very disappointing,” he said. “I’ve backed the boys all the way through but that wasn’t good enough. I can’t accept what they did in the second half, it wasn’t anywhere near our standards and a few people will pay the price.”
Just like Dewsbury, Wigan are coming into the game on the back of a loss, losing 40-10 to fellow rivals, Warrington. It was a poor team performance last week, and they’ll be looking to revenge that loss with a win in the Cup. Wane said: “We’re going to show Dewsbury the respect they deserve. They’re very well coached, they’re a good team, a big physical team and the pitch is very small which they use to their advantage. We’ll be approaching it as we would against any Super League team.”
KEY BATTLE
Dewsbury enter this game losing 4 out of their last 5 games, with an injury hit squad. Coach Glenn Morrison said that they have gone back to learning the basics in preparation for this weeks game. It’ll be interesting to see how Dewsbury approach the game with so many key players missing.
Young Josh Guzdek has been Dewsbury’s shining star this season after leaving Hull KR. Guzdek has scored 7 tries in 12 appearances while also proving himself as a crowd favourite already.
Wigan will be looking to improve their attacking line, which has seemed lost and out of ideas in the past few weeks. With the return of Williams to the squad, this will only improve the team and also help Smith out in the key areas.
PREDICTION
It’ll take a brave individual to openly say that they expect Dewsbury to win this game. Coach Glenn Morrison said “We are not just on the field to make the numbers up,” and thats true. They will give it a good go, but its a win-win situation for the Rams. Wigan have lost their last 2 away games at Wakefield and Warrington. However, the Warriors will be out to make up for them loses.
Wigan Warriors by 40.
SQUADS
Dewsbury Rams: L. Adamson, Brown, Conroy, Crookes, Farrell, Grady, Grant, Guzdek, Hale, Hemingway, Morton, Kain, Kudangirana, Muranka, Speakman, Sykes, Teanby, Trout, Walker.
Wigan Warriors: Bateman, Burke, Charnley, Clubb, Flower, Gildart, Gelling, Gregson, Higginson, Isa, Mossop, Powell, Sarginson, Smith, Sutton, Tautai, Tierney, Wells, Williams.
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Chris Campbell
Venue: Tetley’s Stadium
Date/Time: Sunday 8th May – 15:00pm GMT
