Dewsbury Rams v Featherstone Rovers: Derby rivals both have plenty to prove

Rams were shock 32-22 winners at Featherstone in March and are keen to show that wasn’t a flash in the pan, while Rovers want to set the record straight.

“The result last time means they aren’t going to take us lightly,” warned Rams coach Lee Greenwood.

“We are expecting Featherstone at full-strength, with a nice complement of dual-reg players in and they will have done a lot of preparation on us.

“It is one where we need to be right at the races.”

Rams have won two and drawn one of their last four matches, a run which lifted them to 10th in the table at the start of round 23.

They are five points clear of the relegation zone with five games left, but Greenwood insisted: “We aren’t safe. You are not sure until it is mathematically done. If I was coaching (second-bottom) Barrow I wouldn’t be giving up, I would be thinking it’s not in our hands, but we could still do it.

“Nothing is decided yet; we have done ourselves some favours, but we would like to win some more games and we want to finish as high as we can.

“We are in decent form. We are underdogs for the next five games, but it is about taking these decent performances into our last five games and seeing how far we can stretch it out.”

Rovers boss Ryan Carr admitted his side “owe them one” after the defeat earlier in the year.

He said: “Dewsbury have beaten us already this year so it is a massive game. They have had some good form and it’s going to be a really hard game, but the boys are up for it.”

Rovers are fifth, three points ahead of sixth-placed Bradford Bulls and only three outside second spot.

Carr insisted: “We are just looking at playing well and keeping some consistency in our performance.

“The boys have been really good the last three or four months so we’ve just got to make sure we take each game as it comes. Dewsbury is a tough place to play so it will be a good contest, that’s for sure.”