Match thread: Championship Rd2. Featherstone Rovers v Leigh. Monday 7th February 2022.

[marklaspalmas]

One down, 26 to go (plus playoffs).

Always nice to get off to a solid start.

We looked less than 100% fluent at times, but that's to be expected. I think York will have a decent season too, but we kept them quiet.

Huge game now. The pundits top two favourites for the title pre-season are meeting in Round II live on telly.

In some ways it's a shame we meet so early, but what with the bash, possible Cup or Playoff meetings, I think we'll see enough of them in 2022 anyway.

Team news? Well of the 17 from York, I think we can unfortunately remove JSL for a number of weeks. Big blow that.

I imagine Leilua and Chisholm as well as Cuthbertson will come into the picture despite no pre-season action for them.

It would be good if Ferres is back given JSL's absence. Or perhaps Hellewell will make the 17.

What do you think?

[The Phantom Horseman]

There are multiple options to fill Jesse's position and it's hard to be confident about what BM will do. Davies, Ferres, Helliwell, Leilua, even Hardcastle (and play Leilua at centre) are all options.

Chissy is obviously a possible to return. Maybe Smith has edged ahead of Holmes in the pecking order to be his partner if he does return, though Holmes went well in the 2nd half at York.

If Cuthbo wasn't considered ready to face his old club at York, then Leigh would be a tough seasonal debut with no pre-season under his belt.

I believe the new prop Ben Mathiou flies in today but presumably it will be a while before he comes into contention and also his level of ability is difficult to assess. We do just have that little degree of vulnerability when our better middles are off the pitch. Leigh seem to start with their two big props Sidlow and Green though.

Leigh will be a different proposition to York but then again we will be a very different proposition to Whitehaven for them.

 

[Robin Evans]

Roll on Monday. 

[spanishknight]

Good luck on Monday, hope you hammer them.

[Snowys Backside]

Fev by 20 ( downhill)

[The Phantom Horseman]

Robert Hicks to referee. We saw plenty of him last year (1895 final, play-offs against Fax and Toulouse), to be honest whilst no ref will be universally popular I'd rather have an experienced SL ref than an inexperienced lower-league one for a big game like this.

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Robert Hicks to referee. We saw plenty of him last year (1895 final, play-offs against Fax and Toulouse), to be honest whilst no ref will be universally popular I'd rather have an experienced SL ref than an inexperienced lower-league one for a big game like this.

Interesting appointment PH 

Robert Hicks has been appointed the RFL’s Director of Operations and Legal – meaning his video refereeing role at the France versus England international double header in Perpignan was his last as a full-time match official.

Monday must be his part time job

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

I watched Leigh's pre-season game against St Helens and thought they acquitted themselves very well against the champions who seemed to find them hard to break down, it was a bit of an arm wrestle.

Have only seen the highlights of their win against Whitehaven (anyone know if the full game is available anywhere?) but some of the Whitehaven tackling was woeful for their tries, two of which came when they had three players in the bin, that said you can only beat what's in front of you.

Can't wait for this one, should be a cracker.

[Bobby123]

3 hours ago, Robin Evans said:

Roll on Monday. 

Si thi at the ground. Take care:  Bob.

[Rovers fev]

You’d think chizzy And Joey would be starters but who misses out for them ?

id move hardy to bench or back row to make room for Joey but who misses out for Chizzy ? Holmes?  or one of the hookers from the bench ?

[Robin Evans]

3 minutes ago, Rovers fev said:

You’d think chizzy And Joey would be starters but who misses out for them ?

id move hardy to bench or back row to make room for Joey but who misses out for Chizzy ? Holmes?  or one of the hookers from the bench ?

Hally to wing joey centre gaz misses out.

Holmes out chizzy in. Helliwell in Hardy to back row. Jsl drops out injured.

Or something entirely different. 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

Hally to wing joey centre gaz misses out.

Holmes out chizzy in. Helliwell in Hardy to back row. Jsl drops out injured.

Or something entirely different. 

Don't worry robin it will be something entirely different. 

[binosh]

Too early in the season for us (Leigh) and I suspect a loss at your place after you have had 3 tough games. I think we will be much more dangerous come the back end of the season when the Warmer weather and faster pitches are here.

[The Phantom Horseman]

30 minutes ago, binosh said:

Too early in the season for us (Leigh) and I suspect a loss at your place after you have had 3 tough games. I think we will be much more dangerous come the back end of the season when the Warmer weather and faster pitches are here.

I think we, too, will be much more dangerous come the back end of the season when the warmer weather and faster pitches are here.

I have yet to see any forum poster anywhere say that their team will be less effective when the warmer weather and dryer pitches arrive...

Anyway, I think Leigh should see this as being a big opportunity as we will be without two key forwards in Kopczak and Sene-Lefao, and Chisholm, Leilua and Cuthbertson have all yet to appear in a competitive game this season.

[Snowys Backside]

I'm interested to see how Leigh approach this. Fev play some lovely stuff, but if Leigh remain structured and dont panic, it could be an arm wrestle.

It seems to be the biggest Leigh pack for a good while and if Joey plays for you, would be good if he Lines up against McDonald. 

If he does, then that could be worth the admission price alone because both are Monsters. McDonald must be 6ft 4 6ft 5

I cant make it because of work, but good luck to both sides. Should be interesting and its either going to be a tight Leigh wing with anxiety from Fev or a comfortable Fev win IMHO. No reason why 4500+ wont attend.

[Fevrover]

3 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

I'm interested to see how Leigh approach this. Fev play some lovely stuff, but if Leigh remain structured and dont panic, it could be an arm wrestle.

It seems to be the biggest Leigh pack for a good while and if Joey plays for you, would be good if he Lines up against McDonald. 

If he does, then that could be worth the admission price alone because both are Monsters. McDonald must be 6ft 4 6ft 5

I cant make it because of work, but good luck to both sides. Should be interesting and its either going to be a tight Leigh wing with anxiety from Fev or a comfortable Fev win IMHO. No reason why 4500+ wont attend.

Can't see that many attending it's a bad time for finishing for Leigh fans, been a better crowd on the Sunday but hopefully a good crowd and game.

[lingaro]

We had 4500.when we played Tolouse and they brought 3 and a Jack Russell 

[Guest]

Against anybody else I would  give chizzy and joey another week off but we're playing our so called title rivals so we need to play THE BEST and those two definitely fall into the category of THE BEST

Reports suggest leigh have a big pack so I would bring in some bigger  lads that played at york so step up cuthbo and brett and I would also be tempted to put our new 6' 2'' aussie prop on the bench

[Robin Evans]

13 minutes ago, POR said:

Against anybody else I would  give chizzy and joey another week off but we're playing our so called title rivals so we need to play THE BEST and those two definitely fall into the category of THE BEST

Reports suggest leigh have a big pack so I would bring in some bigger  lads that played at york so step up cuthbo and brett and I would also be tempted to put our new 6' 2'' aussie prop on the bench

I've gone round in circles last 24 hours trying to slot 23 players into 17. It's making my head hurt.

I'm leaving it to mac. He's forgotten more about rugby than I will ever know. 

[sentoffagain2]

  If Leigh have a bigger much bigger pack don't play them down the middle.Just a couple of forward drives and then throw the ball about.Forwards offloading when defenders are committed to the tackle tire the big uns out.No matter how big they are players can't go without their legs,one defender downstairs and the other round the ball stopping the off load.Not worried about the game i think we will win.

[gittinsfan]

I have'nt seen either team play this season so it would be silly to predict a winner.I certainly hope it's Fev.Good Luck.

[The Phantom Horseman]

14 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

I've gone round in circles last 24 hours trying to slot 23 players into 17. It's making my head hurt.

I'm leaving it to mac. He's forgotten more about rugby than I will ever know. 

Indeed. He will also know how ready players like Cuthbertson and Chisholm who missed the York game are in terms of match fitness.

I think people need to temper their early expectations regarding our new prop recruit Ben Mathiou, he only arrived on Wednesday and it's difficult to know what level of player he is. He had four shoulder reconstructions earlier in his career and he seems to have bounced around a few teams in recent years.

He was with Norths Devils last year, who won the second tier comp in Australia (Nene McDonald was one of their star players), but it's hard to find much evidence of him playing regularly and certainly not in the big play-off games, I don't know if he was injured or not selected. Think he's likely to be like Bayley Gill, a bit of a project that we're taking a punt on.

I agree about attacking them on their edges, Nene McDonald is a dangerous attacking player but his defence for Whitehavens' sole try last week was soft (albeit Leigh were well ahead at the time), he'll be on the opposite side to big Junior Moors sadly but if Leilua plays they might be on the same side of the field which should be interesting as both can be devastating in attack but have reputations for being weak defensively (by NRL standards mind you). I like the match up of Briscoe against Dixon on that side if Dixon plays.

All in all a very hard game to predict even if you've seen both teams play, and if you haven't, as Gittinsfan says it's mostly guesswork.

 

[Fevrover]

6 hours ago, lingaro said:

We had 4500.when we played Tolouse and they brought 3 and a Jack Russell 

Aye yev got mi there.

[jamescolin]

Is that a prediction of the score 45-00. I hope so. In real terms I am looking at 24-14. I think we will win it. UTR  Bussey to the fore with Chisholm back.

[jamescolin]

I am looking for some definite LEIGH WAY.