03 August 2014

Featherstone Rovers thrashed Barrow Raiders with a twelve try display. Featherstone’s pivots took a stranglehold on the Raiders in the first period with outstanding displays from halves Gareth Moore and Jamie Rooney, and hookers Gareth Ellis and George Flanagan, who was outstanding in the brief spell before a serious injury.  It was Ellis who opened the scoring as he supported Will Sharp’s touchline break from Greg Worthington’s astute pass. The left wing pair combined again after Rooney’s long cut-out pass gave Worthington the opportunity to give Sharp the simplest of touchdowns. Moore missed the touchline conversion attempt and was unable to convert his own try after plunging over from acting half, which gave the Raiders hope when the lively Campbell followed his own grubber to score near the posts. Ryan Shaw converted to close the gap, but Rovers soon killed off those hopes when Flanagan plucked a Steve Crossley offload out of the air and raced through on a diagonal run, and shortly after Moore sliced through on a show and go from Rooney’s pass. Flanagan then left the field with his unfortunate injury from an innocuous tackle, but when Sharp rose highest to Moore’s aerial kick and spun around to touch down seconds before the hooter there was no way back from a 24 point deficit.

The second period was a mere procession for Rovers from when Worthington touched down Ellis’s grubber, right through to when the same player scored after the hooter to move the scoreboard past 60. Props Annakin and Crossley helped themselves to barnstorming tries, Crossley’s a particularly impressive effort in which he brushed half the opposition aside on a 20 metre run, Jason Crookes sprinted 50 metres off Ian Hardman’s break, and Ellis helped himself to a second off Rooney’s offload.