08 March 2020

Featherstone Rovers continued their unbeaten start to the season in a hard-fought victory over a resolute Swinton Lions side, with the final score ending 35-24. Tries from James Harrison, Louis Jouffret and Ben Blackmore, alongside four from Greg Worthington on his 200th career appearance was enough to see Rovers over the line in an ugly win. Stuart Littler’s side found themselves 12-0 up early on in the game, as Samuel Cox latched onto Robert Fairclough’s short kick, before Fairclough then found himself on the scoresheet in the 10th minute. Dane Chisholm broke through and thought he had scored Rovers’ first try of the afternoon when he was found by Liam Sutcliffe. However, referee Jack Smith pulled it back for a forward pass. Some good play from James Webster’s men managed to break through the Lions’ defence and score Featherstone’s first try of the game as Harrison sent Jouffret through and followed up for the return pass to score. Then just after the half hour mark Jouffret turned scorer as he rounded off a brilliant move from the hosts. Blackmore broke from behind Rovers’ line and fed Craig Hall, who then broke 20 metres and fed the Frenchman, who used his pace to get away and score. Worthington grabbed his first of the afternoon when he gathered a cross kick from Chisholm and grounded it to give Rovers’ a narrow lead at the break.

The Toronto Wolfpack loanee then scored his second just minutes after the restart when Jack Bussey switched the play on the last tackle and found Worthington, who scored near the corner. Swinton looked to come back into the game when Michael Butt crashed his way over to put the visitors only two-points behind after Jack Hansen’s missed conversion. Worthington sealed his hat-trick when Blackmore knocked back a lobbed kick from Chisholm into the left corner, the 29-year-old collected and finished. Blackmore then found himself on the scoresheet as he capped off a fine Rovers’ move that saw them move the ball all the way from the right winger to the left corner. Butt bagged himself a second try for Swinton when Fairclough switched the play to the fullback, who had an easy run at the try line, Hansen’s conversion brought the away side within six. However, when Worthington raised his tally for the afternoon to four, the game was put beyond any real doubt, just after Chisholm scored a well taken field goal, to put the final score 35-24 to the hosts.