DEWSBURY Rams’ coach Warren Jowitt will have a roll-call this weekend before naming his team for the Carnegie Challenge Cup third round tie against amateurs Drighlington at Tetley’s Stadium on Sunday (3.15pm).

The Rams, already with a clutch of injuries, returned at almost midnight on Monday after their nightmare in France and suffered a 44-22 defeat at home to Leigh on Wednesday as they bowed out of the Northern Rail Cup.

Dewsbury tried to get Wednesday’s game postponed but Leigh refused and the Rugby League supported them.

Jowitt remarked: “I’ll be glad when this week is over, it has been the worst period of my coaching career. I don’t blame Leigh for not calling the game off. They have to go to Toulouse on Good Friday night, fly back on Sunday and play again on Easter Monday. You have to try and catch teams on the hop and this was their chance against us.

“I had to make changes on Wednesday because I had already a list of injuries and the players, who went to Toulouse, were carrying bumps and bruises and the travel was a nightmare.

“We don’t want to lose against Drig, but how these lads have coped I don’t know. Drighlington will come hard at us and we have to deal with it. If we get any more injuries it will be backs against the wall.”

Jowitt again praised prop Anthony England for his efforts in Toulouse. He went on: “He was absolutely outstanding and never stopped working and James Lockwood had his best game by far.

“Scott Turner grabbed two more tries and Ayden Faal again looked good. He is not yet fully match fit but when he is, I expect his winger Bryan Powell to get a bagful of tries.”

The Rams have three ex-Drighlington players in their ranks – Luke Stenchion, Luke Menzies and Luke Blake.

The amateurs, coached by former Leeds, Huddersfield and Hull KR forward Chris Burton, had a full-on contact training session with Batley Bulldogs on Wednesday as Burton tried to give them some idea of the extra speed of the pro game.

They are in the Pennine League Premier Division and to reach this stage have beaten three teams from the higher-rated Conference League. They played at this stage in the Challenge Cup three years ago when they lost 52-10 at Featherstone but were well in the game until after half-time when fitness told.

Many of that squad will be on duty on Sunday and they include such as Andy Jarrett, who played at Batley, Andy Jackson and Luke Pennington, who have played in the professional ranks, and Burton’s son, Ryan, who was at Leeds Academy.

Drighlington have organised two double decker buses and will run a free service from their club to the ground, from 1pm on Sunday. Their Under-8s are meeting Thornhill in a curtain-raiser, which starts at 1.45pm. They are hoping to bring around 400 supporters, which would certainly boost the attendance.

There is reduced admission with £10 for adults, £7 concessions and £2 for under-16s.