Doncaster RLFC aim to build on derby success as they prepare for lengthy Barrow trek
Doncaster RLFC will be looking to repeat last season’s impressive 38-6 win over third-placed Barrow Raiders in Sunday’s Betfred Championship clash at the Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium.
“They’ve been going well this season and they’ve had some good results and we’ll need to play well,” said Dons skipper Reece Lyne. “We’ve mainly concentrated on ourselves in the build-up and if we get things right on the day then we can come away with the points.
“You have to be on your game every week in the Championship and they obviously have been (in the games that they have won) whereas we obviously weren’t in the recent big defeat at York Knights.
“These things happen in sport and it’s all about how teams react and I think we got it right both in training during the week and on the day against Sheffield Eagles.
“I thought every one of the players was outstanding. We had a simple game-plan and I thought we executed it well. We’d not beaten them for a long time but I thought we were the better team for large parts of the game and deserved to win.”
Head coach Richard Horne reflected: “It’s a long way up there and it’s about getting the preparation right as we did last year. You have to get things like hydration right because players can get caught out by the travel due to the fact that it’s such a long way to go up there on the day of the game.”
The Dons have yet to claim back-to-back victories this season – a point not lost on Horne. “We need to have more consistency in what we are doing,” he told the Free Press. “We need to back up the win over Sheffield last weekend and not just be a good team every other week.
“We know that if we perform like we did against Toulouse and Sheffield then we are a hard side to beat. But they’ve had some fantastic results this season so we know we are going to have to play well to repeat last season’s win up there,
“They are a big side, they complete (their sets) really high and they’ve got pace out wide with the likes of Tee Ritson (currently playing for Barrow on loan from Super League side St Helens).
“He’s one of the fastest players in the game but we’ve come up against him a few times in the past and dealt with him really well. But we know what he can do so we’ve looked to put a game plan together to stop him being effective.”