Fev handed a decent test

Photo: Dave Murgatroyd

OFFLOAD: Sammy Gee, outstanding for Oldham off the bench, flicks a pass to Richard Lepori.

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

Josh Crowley sets off on a run at the Featherstone defence at the Big Fella’s Stadium.
Featherstone 20, Oldham 6

LOOKING more like a Championship side every time they turn out, Oldham gave Featherstone a far bigger fright than the score would suggest.

After a surprisingly dodgy and disjointed opening quarter, they gave as good as they got for an hour and, with more clinical finishing, would probably have led at half-time instead of trailing 10-6.

The first try in the second half would be a pivotal moment and though it went to Rovers 15 minutes in, to edge them into a 16-6 lead, they then had a few close scrapes in which Josh Crowley, Kenny Hughes, Phil Joy and Danny Langtree were all stopped within touching distance of the home try line.

Rovers also threatened a few times before Danny Craven scored their fourth try in the corner on the last play of a hugely competitive encounter.

It thus finished 20-6. Stats don’t lie. But they don’t always tell an accurate story. The score didn’t reflect Oldham’s contribution to a hard-fought battle.

A 16-6 finish would have been nearer the mark and teams with heaps more experience of Championship rugby than Roughyeds will go to the Big Fella’s this year and come away with a bigger deficit than that.

After his side’s sizzling opening stanza against Dewsbury in the previous game, Scott Naylor was understandably disappointed by this mediocre start, which allowed Rovers to score early tries.

Roughyeds made early handling errors; conceded the game’s first three penalties; and in complete contrast to the Dewsbury game, looked nervous and at times even in awe of the men in front of them.

Sammy Gee changed all that coming off the bench. He carried the game to Rovers, bust them open from dummy half — all arms and legs — and completely changed the momentum, putting Rovers on the back foot and Oldham in the ascendancy for the first time.

Well though Phil Joy played (and his was an outstanding performance, which matched Andy Bostock’s front-row heroics for Featherstone), it was a mystery how he failed to score when Gee made the running and sent Oldham’s own big fella plunging for the line.

No matter. Oldham were not to be denied and a couple of tackles later, with Rovers still all over the place, Richard Lepori danced and darted past a couple of leaden-footed defenders to score near the posts for Lewis Palfrey to add the goal..

The rest of the half was exclusively Oldham’s. Gee again broke up the middle. Lepori got up on his shoulder, but marginally over-ran him and the final pass was forward. Next up, Palfrey, Lepori and Hope combined down the middle. Rovers were stretched, but Palfrey opted for the cross-kick to the corner when a more orthodox right to left shift might have produced better dividends.

So it went on to the final minute of the first half, when Palfrey sent Hope striding into the clear. Support was coming up fast on the inside, but it didn’t get there in time.

Hope tried to run over the full-back, failed and threw a speculative inside ball that fell into Rovers hands.

By half time the game was finely balanced, but Rovers had time to recover their composure at the interval and after repelling more Roughyeds pressure, they showed the visitors how to do it by going down the other end and scoring their third try.

A side under pressure often concedes penalties. Four of the first five in the second half went Featherstone’s way, giving Roughyeds lots of tackling to do.

They never flinched from duty and even found the strength, with Kenny Hughes now to the fore, to go in search of another try at a crucial period of the game.

Crowley was denied by a massive tackle, while Langtree, Joy and Hughes all went agonisingly close.

Rovers soaked it up and then went down to the other end and scored their fourth try by Danny Craven after good work by Roche, Thackeray and Davies — the major difference, perhaps, between a well-established second-tier side and one just starting out on their Championship adventure.