Match thread: Challenge Cup 6th round. Leigh Leopards v Featherstone Rovers. Saturday 23rd March 2024. 2.00pm

[The Phantom Horseman]

Turner, Massey, Tanner and Yei all in the 21-man squad for Saturday. Interesting to see how many of them are fit to play, but hopefully a sign that we are at least returning to something like a full complement of players to select from. Morris Kamano presumably was one of the players who picked up a knock at Batley.

 

Edited March 21 by The Phantom Horseman

[marklaspalmas]

3 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Turner, Massey, Tanner and Yei all in the 21-man squad for Saturday. Interesting to see how many of them are fit to play, but hopefully a sign that we are at least returning to something like a full complement of players to select from. Morris Kamano presumably was one of the players who picked up a knock at Batley.

 

It's a strong looking squad with just Bussey, Kamano, Arnold and Roberts not selected.

The key will be to see if Lacans, Tanner and Massey are fit to return and if Yei and Turner are ready to start their 2024.

Those five will make a big difference either way.

[jamescolin]

How do  you see the team line up after information received.

[Zilla Budgie]

Should be a good game tomorrow. If we play like we did v Huddersfield in round 1 (we made about 15 mistakes with the ball) then it could be a long afternoon for us. Always enjoyed Leigh v Fev games, and tomorrow should be no different (unless we lose  ) Look at Wigan v Sheffield tonight, Pies were only leading 26-18 with 15 minutes remaining. And Wigan are a little bit better than us. Safe journey anyway, might see some of you in the Whistling Wren...

[The Phantom Horseman]

10 hours ago, Zilla Budgie said:

Should be a good game tomorrow. If we play like we did v Huddersfield in round 1 (we made about 15 mistakes with the ball) then it could be a long afternoon for us.

Alternatively, if you play like you did at Hull it could be a desperately long afternoon for us! Amazing performance that but at least we know there's no shame if we get blown away in similar fashion.

It's a bit of a free hit for us and hopefully a chance to get some minutes into a few players who desperately need it, there's a chance we might play 2 or 3 guys who haven't played for over 6 months and didn't have a proper pre-season either.

Most of us will just be hoping we have a dig like we did against Wakefield as we're very much in rebuilding mode at the moment.

 

[lingaro]

10 hours ago, Zilla Budgie said:

Should be a good game tomorrow. If we play like we did v Huddersfield in round 1 (we made about 15 mistakes with the ball) then it could be a long afternoon for us. Always enjoyed Leigh v Fev games, and tomorrow should be no different (unless we lose  ) Look at Wigan v Sheffield tonight, Pies were only leading 26-18 with 15 minutes remaining. And Wigan are a little bit better than us. Safe journey anyway, might see some of you in the Whistling Wren...

Sinbinned a Sheffield player to. Make sure too

[lingaro]

Anyone got a link or is it just on YouTube? 

[Michael Bates]

31 minutes ago, lingaro said:

Anyone got a link or is it just on YouTube? 

It's on YouTube, this is the link to their channel

https://youtube.com/@TheSportsmanRugbyLeague?si=whwaIyouRa4Gkeob

[lingaro]

Thanks

[Rovers fev]

Hopefully get some minutes into tanner Yei and turner ready for wakey next week 

[The Phantom Horseman]

17 named. Tanner still not ready. Tomlinson gets a start, Turner on the bench alongside England, Wynne, and Yei so really one middle, a back row, half back and wing as our interchanges, but suspect England will play a bit of middle as he did in the 1895 Cup game at Batley.

 

[POR]

 

[Phil Briscoe]

Ye we look a bit light off the bench with no Massey and Tanner in the 17.

[Eternal Rover]

Half time, got to sort our left edge defence out, way too leaky. Leigh are targeting that channel and we look way too shaky down that left edge whenever they come at us.

[Michael Bates]

I'm glad we don't see Jack Smith very often. Terrible referee. The forward pass decision just before Yei was binned was one of the worst I've seen.

[Michael Bates]

Pleased with the end result. Thought we scored three great tries. Two brilliant ones from Wacokecoke and some excellent footwork from Turner who looked impressive. 

I thought we defended very well, just struggling a little when Leigh shifted it to the edges quickly.

We did look a bit clueless when we got inside their 20, I think we caughed up possession every time we got there.

Jack Smith is a terrible referee. The decision on the forward pass in the set before Yei was sinbinned was incredibly poor and probably put the game to bed as a contest. 

I think Yei will get banned for his tackle that saw him get a yellow, I also think Brad Day will get a ban for his tackle that ended in a head clash. I think if there was a video ref, he'd have been sent off for that.

I hope Lacans' injury isn't too bad and he's back on the field as soon as possible partnering with Turner.

[The Phantom Horseman]

Well all we ask is they have a dig and they really did. Especially not to fold in the second half. Some fabulous tries too. If we'd scored in that attack with about 5 minutes left it would have been a nervous last couple of sets for Leigh. Very proud of that effort.

The downside of course is the injury to poor Thomas. Really hope he's ok but it didn't look good.

Couple of glimpses from Turner of what he can do and hopefully he will prove a handful for Championship defences.

Edited March 23 by The Phantom Horseman

[The Phantom Horseman]

31 minutes ago, Michael Bates said:

I'm glad we don't see Jack Smith very often. Terrible referee. The forward pass decision just before Yei was binned was one of the worst I've seen.

I'm pretty sure that, and most of the other forward pass calls, came from the touch judge.

[Michael Bates]

3 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I'm pretty sure that, and most of the other forward pass calls, came from the touch judge.

I imagine so. He ignored one in the first half from us where the touch judge clearly shouted "forward, forward, forward".

Still, it was a terrible call.

[eltel]

Mostly a great performance today except for a blind referee again. fev lost mainly due to a real poor performance from fullback with a good fullback and not gifting Leigh a clear forward pass try it would have been very close. 

[Fevrover]

1 minute ago, eltel said:

Mostly a great performance today except for a blind referee again. fev lost mainly due to a real poor performance from fullback with a good fullback and not gifting Leigh a clear forward pass try it would have been very close. 

I think we beat ourselves at times but happy with our 3 tries,got to build on this performance now.

[The Phantom Horseman]

8 minutes ago, Michael Bates said:

I imagine so. He ignored one in the first half from us where the touch judge clearly shouted "forward, forward, forward".

Still, it was a terrible call.

The touch judge down that side was Cameron Worsley who also referees a lot of games, he's very young but is a bit whistle-happy at this stage of his career, think he's one of the refs with the biggest penalty count over the last year or so and he's clearly the same as a touch judge.

[The Phantom Horseman]

24 minutes ago, eltel said:

 fev lost mainly due to a real poor performance from fullback

Caleb Aekins? Struggling to see what he did wrong.

[Maureen T-k]

No shame in that performance and Leigh would have been nothing without Hanley’s 3 tries 

[sentoffagain2]

28 minutes ago, eltel said:

Mostly a great performance today except for a blind referee again. fev lost mainly due to a real poor performance from fullback with a good fullback and not gifting Leigh a clear forward pass try it would have been very close. 

   I counted 3 forward passes by Leigh and the ref let every one go.One of ours was flat at worst and never forward.Agree about Aekins at full back i said to our young un his defence was very poor.One  effort to tackle was feeble which they scored from and other times covering behind the defensive line and not in the line.Often Minikin had to come inside because Leigh had three or four on two.But  a good performance from the players we couldn't have asked for much more.