06 June 2021

Rovers will celebrate their centenary with a trip to Wembley, thanks to a nervy victory over Widnes Vikings.  A resolute defensive display, and a lack of clinical finishing from their opponents in the second-half, saw them over the line in the 1895 cup semi-final. 

Rovers started positively and were stopped inches short down the right flank, before shifting the ball left for Tom Holmes to send Brad Day in to open the scoring in the 7th minute. Two minutes later, Holmes and Day combined again, to claim a second in similar fashion. Featherstone’s momentum continued to carry them towards the Vikings line, with Craig Kopczak crashing over down the centre in the 12th minute. Hall added his second conversion, to give them an early 16-point-lead.  From then the game turned round.  Adam Lawton got Widnes going when he stole the ball to launch an attack, which ended with Steve Tyrer scoring for the Vikings and then converting his own try. Lawton continued to wreak havoc, with a great show of strength and determination, he twisted his way through four men down the right, before Tyrer added his second conversion. Rovers returned to the fore with a spectacular long-range try, as Nu Brown burst through and released Frankie Halton on his outside. Hall then restored their 10-point-lead with an impressive conversion from out wide.

The start to the second-half was promising for Featherstone, but they were not clinical, with Dean Parata losing the ball five metres out to give Widnes a let off. Lawton was the man to punish this lack of a cutting edge, as in the first half - forcing his way through down the right, before Tyrer’s conversion took his side to within four points once again. A break by Holmes was supported by Brown but he was taken out without the ball and Hall converted a simple penalty to extend Rovers’ lead to six, with the scores at 24-18.   Widnes finished the game stronger but squandered their chances to draw level and Rovers clung on to earn a place at Wembley.