13 March 2020

Featherstone Rovers booked their place in the Coral Challenge Cup Sixth Round with a professional 46-6 victory over Hunslet RLFC under the Friday night lights. First professional tries from youngsters Jake Sweeting and Sam Ottewell were joined with efforts from Dane Chisholm, Josh Hardcastle, Ben Blackmore and Conor Carey as Rovers placed their name in the hat for the next round. It was the perfect start for the hosts when Sweeting managed to run through the Hunslet defence with a fantastic 50 metre break that saw him zig zag his way through and led to him scoring underneath the sticks. Another youngster found himself on the scoresheet when Jouffret found Ottewell, who was playing his first ever game on the wing, with a long range pass and he was able to finish in the corner on his professional debut. A strong spell on the left flank followed, first Blackmore broke, cut inside and found Chisholm with a clever reverse pass that sent the number seven away and he finished beneath the sticks. Chisholm then turned provider as he fed Hardcastle who managed to crash his way over, then minutes later Hardcastle found Blackmore who finished right in the corner to extend Rovers lead before the break.

Just like in the first half, Sweeting grabbed the first try after the break. A great offload from Jimmy Beckett found Craig Hall, who then found the youngster, he almost spilled the ball, but managed to recover and score. Chisholm then did well to latch onto a Hunslet knock-on and he broke 50 metres before feeding Blackmore who used his pace to get away and score. The visitors tried to get themselves back into the tie, but some strong Featherstone defence forced them into touch and Chisholm then went straight up the other end and put Rovers 40 ahead. Hunslet got themselves a consolation try when Benjamin Heaton spotted a gap and ran straight through. Finally, Carey finished the tie off when he scored in the corner after Ottewell and Beckett combined well to set up the try on the right wing.