Boxing Day reaction: James Ford ‘pleased’ in first outing as Batley Bulldogs’ head coach as Paul March bemoans Dewsbury Rams’ errors

The Bulldogs eased to a 18-0 victory in the traditional annual friendly at FLAIR Stadium thanks to two tries from Joe Burton and one from debutant Jack Hudson.

Former Featherstone Rovers head coach Ford said after the game:

“Overall I am pleased. I thought we looked good in contact and our tackle management. We have put a lot of focus on that and have seen us take a big step forward in that. Things like our kick chase were also really good.

“When Dewsbury had a couple of moments, my players turned them round and found ways to defend plays. That is something that I really wanted to instil into this group. I didn’t see it last year in the games that I watched.

“That’s not a coaching thing, that’s a player mentality thing. So I am really pleased that the players are going after that area for the group and club this year.”

He added: “With the ball we missed a few chances on the short side and we couldn’t quite get our organisation and execution to the levels we will aspire to for the season but let’s remember where we are.

“It’s Boxing Day and we’ve only been training for five weeks.”

Counterpart Paul March rued his side’s errors as they failed to create any meaningful opportunities to get back into the contest after Hudson and Burton’s tries midway through the first half gave Batley a 12-0 lead.

Dewsbury’s head coach revealed: “It was a typical Boxing Day game. It was good to get a hit out and get the lads some game time. I thought we were clunky with the ball in hand.

“Defensively they caught us a couple of times but with the amount of ball they had defensively I thought we were alright throughout the game. They scored their tries on the back of back-to-back sets where the lads were in a washing machine cycle and their minds weren’t thinking quick enough and they took advantage of that.

“Penalty count and errors from our part gifted them ball and field position. And when you give someone like Batley, who last year were playing in the division above us, all that ball then they are going to capitalise on our mistakes and the three tries that they scored were certainly that.”

He added: “We didn’t get into the right areas of the field to question them as much as we wanted to. It could be credit to them but it was more us letting them off the hook by coming up with errors.

“In the first half we had four good ball sets and errored four times. We released pressure on them and when you do that, teams like Batley can go down the other end and capitalise.

“Both teams wanted to get through it injury-free because there is a lot more to come from both sides and there were a lot of positives.”

And while Brad Graham, who returned to the Rams after a stint with Halifax Panthers, suffered an ankle injury, March was pleased with his new-look side for 2026.

He said: “Jacob Bateman has come in on a season-long loan. He has come here for an opportunity to get his career back on track and he had some good spells today.

“Luke Nelms carried the ball really well today and his talking defensive work was good. Young George Rayner came on onto the wing, he caught everything.

“There were some good displays from a few of the lads defensively, but we need to learn from the performance with ball in hand and hopefully we can create a few more opportunities in our next game.”