FEATHERSTONE ROVERS coach James Ford believes a second Challenge Cup win over amateur opposition provided plenty of encouragement ahead of clashes with fellow professional teams.
The Millennium Stadium side have kicked off a league campaign which Ford hopes will bring a significant improvement on last season’s sixth-place finish and subsequent play-off eliminator loss at Bradford.
Rovers also have ambitions in the 1895 Cup, a competition they won in 2021 and reached the final of in 2022, and have a Challenge Cup fourth-round tie against Catalans in France in mid-March.
That’s following a 68-0 home win over Ince Rose Bridge, after another National Conference League team, Waterhead, were seen off 88-10 in a round-two tie switched to Featherstone, where the third-round clash between York Acorn and Hull also took place.
That contributed to a heavy pitch which Ford believes suited Wigan side Ince more than his own.
“I think their strategy was to slow the ruck down, and fair play to them, because they weren’t going to just let us do what we wanted when we wanted,” he said.
“The field was wet and sticky, further contributing to the slow tempo, and we had to try to find a way to speed things up.
“When we managed to do that, we scored some pretty good tries, and in the circumstances, to get close to 70 points was pleasing.”
Rovers were without suspended Connor Wynne as well as the likes of his fellow backs Carlos Tuimavave and Ben Reynolds and forwards Gadwin Springer and Toby Boothroyd, with the coach revealing an illness bug swept through the camp during the build-up, leading to a no-risk selection approach.
Ford also praised his side’s discipline, adding: “They came to try to rattle us a bit.
“I think a less emotionally mature team might have given away more penalties and had a sinbinning or two, so to avoid that scenario was good.”