Match Thread: Challenge Cup Second Round, Featherstone Rovers v Batley Saturday-27th-March-2021

[The Phantom Horseman]

Interesting things to look out for when the 17 are announced:
- who misses out from the three centres? Think Welham is sure to start but could be close between Hardy and Minns
- does Ferres go straight into the left edge back row position or does he come off the bench with Halton starting?
- what's the pecking order between Bussey, Cooper, Davies and Field? At least one and maybe two of those will probably miss out

[tms]

3 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Fev now named the full 21-man squad, with Brown in it along with Moors, Davies and Welham.

https://www.featherstonerovers.co.uk/news/trio-added-to-batley-squad-dLIv9

so what do we do kris replaces josh at centre then josh and gareth fight it out for the wing  berth stick with the same starting pack then on the bench dean and james with the added bonus of brett and junior mmmmmm interesting conundrum

[tms]

8 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Interesting things to look out for when the 17 are announced:
- who misses out from the three centres? Think Welham is sure to start but could be close between Hardy and Minns
- does Ferres go straight into the left edge back row position or does he come off the bench with Halton starting?
- what's the pecking order between Bussey, Cooper, Davies and Field? At least one and maybe two of those will probably miss out

for me with no game time brett comes off the bench as batley tire and only jack out of the four gets into the team on this occasion

[Dog forever]

On 25/03/2021 at 11:13, The Phantom Horseman said:

Thanks for that.

After last season, Webbo said that despite playing 6 games he still didn't really have a handle on exactly how good we are, after a badly disrupted pre-season and then a few games played in muddy conditions.

It might be the same this year; the teams we have played so far have either been injury-hit, looked desperately rusty post-Covid, or both. Interesting to see how much better Batley are this weekend, but we have two home games in a row against them now, followed by a trip to Swinton (which is rarely easy) then a home game against Whitehaven.

It seems clear that we should be one of the stronger teams in the division, but with our away game against Toulouse postponed, we might not find out where we stand in relation to potential promotion rivals until we travel to York on May 9th.

 

Are all your players still part time ? 

[haskey]

Who would be a coach !!!

[The Phantom Horseman]

25 minutes ago, Dog forever said:

Are all your players still part time ? 

Yes, though it depends on your definition of part-time. Most have a full-time job outside rugby. There are a small number who don't, but they don't train full-time, training sessions are in the evenings like other Championship clubs.

[The Grinder]

26 minutes ago, Dog forever said:

Are all your players still part time ? 

I suspect that we have had a number that are/have been full time over a period of time with club development roles, etc.

[The Grinder]

47 minutes ago, POR said:

so what do we do kris replaces josh at centre then josh and gareth fight it out for the wing  berth stick with the same starting pack then on the bench dean and james with the added bonus of brett and junior mmmmmm interesting conundrum

Personally I'd go with Minns and Welham at centre and Josh on the bench to cover the 3/4 line and second row. However as you said tough for the coach to keep everyone happy.

[tms]

6 minutes ago, haskey said:

Who would be a coach !!!

 Mr Wallace Arnold

 

Preserved Plaxton bodied Leyland Leopard

[tms]

58 minutes ago, The Grinder said:

Personally I'd go with Minns and Welham at centre and Josh on the bench to cover the 3/4 line and second row. However as you said tough for the coach to keep everyone happy.

If kris and thomas plays centre  josh plays on the wing or sits in the stands don't need him as cover  connor jones who will be in the 17 played twice at centre and twenty minutes at standoff for salford in SL  so sure he could cope with FEV in the championship  if someone in the 3/4 goes off  

[jamescolin]

In view of the full squad being now announced, how do you see the actual line up of the first 13 on the field ?

[tms]

33 minutes ago, jamescolin said:

In view of the full squad being now announced, how do you see the actual line up of the first 13 on the field ?

I would like to take the 13 who started against  the bulls and swap josh with kris simples 

[Dog forever]

2 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Yes, though it depends on your definition of part-time. Most have a full-time job outside rugby. There are a small number who don't, but they don't train full-time, training sessions are in the evenings like other Championship clubs.

Thanks tph,  I just wondered. Its a cracking squad you have for 2021. Hope your club achieves its goal this season. If any club deserves a bash at sl its fev. I still think we will turn you over tomorrow though. 

[tms]

Just now, Dog forever said:

Thanks tph,  I just wondered. Its a cracking squad you have for 2021. Hope your club achieves its goal this season. If any club deserves a bash at sl its fev. I still think we will turn you over tomorrow though. 

you'll have to bring a big steering wheel     

[sentoffagain2]

  I think James Harrison has a better footballing brain than his dad Karl had at the same age.It's not just luck that he seems to be in the right place at the right time.I will not disrespect Batley by predicting the score but i do think we will win.

[Fev1983]

I will predict that we will win by 20+ surely that’s rivalry with respect 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Minns, Cooper, Davies and Field the 4 to miss out.

[sentoffagain2]

42 minutes ago, Fev1983 said:

I will predict that we will win by 20+ surely that’s rivalry with respect 

O K im frightened of getting it wrong like last week you found me out.

[Stirlin]

On 25/03/2021 at 14:19, POR said:

, because they have brought better players in. I agree but I think we'ave brought in better ones and I think you misunderstood me I didn't say they were no good I meant they played like york the york we all know and love   I thought  they didn't do any thing we haven't seen from them  before 

Connor Robinson now at Fax is a great goalkicker but very little creative stuff , our new six Bren O'Hagan looks old head on young shoulders , put Pez in for both of his tries at Sheff last week .

Hopefully he can feed off Cuthbertson's off loads if Cuth gets a run out tomorrow.

Looking forward to your game this avo.

[Cardypaul]

Think we really need to work on our left edge defence I think every try we have conceded is on that side

[sentoffagain2]

19 minutes ago, Cardypaul said:

Think we really need to work on our left edge defence I think every try we have conceded is on that side

  We were short on that side Locky saw it and tried to get over but they still had four on three.Hardcastle again caught between two attackers and didn't go for either of them same as last week.Jones is having a good game,Bussey and Locky worked hard when on.Brown much better at 6 this week but why did he let the ball go for a forward pass when he knew it was forward.A bit more work to do we need to speed it up a bit.

[Michael Bates]

Since the Blackmore error our performance has been absolutely disgraceful.

[The Phantom Horseman]

Well that was a hard watch. There looked a gulf in class between the two teams for chunks of the game but you just can't turn over the ball in your own territory as often as we did. Fair play to Batley for hanging in there.

We are capable of so much better than that, and flashed that ability at times, but we need to cut down the errors drastically. Think there were four or five forward passes, and lost count of  knock ons in our own half.

[tms]

the only rhing we can take out of this game is we were poor but still won but for amusement the cambell try takes some beating takes me back when tonky dropped the ball and got a drop goal   

[sentoffagain2]

1 minute ago, POR said:

the only rhing we can take out of this game is we were poor but still won but for amusement the cambell try takes some beating takes me back when tonky dropped the ball and got a drop goal   

  Craig Hall should have cleaned that up i thought he had a poor game today.Our players will be on at least double what the Batley players are on but they more than matched us for effort.We will have to show considerable improvement to get in the top two.