07 April 2023

Rovers played the first half down the Batley slope on Good Friday, but were dealt a blow before the game got underway as Elijah Taylor pulled up with a hamstring injury during the warm up. Featherstone were therefore left with only one recognised half back in Riley Dean, Craig Hall the 18th man stepped into the halves in place of Taylor. Batley were first on the scoreboard.  James Meadows converting a penalty from midfield.  Rovers replied early as Josh Hardcastle pounced on a deft grubber kick from Dean to set the ball rolling.  It was Hardcastle again 10 minutes later as he forced his way over from close range. Batley seemed to be imploding with consistent errors all over the field.  Midway through the first half, a loose ball was collected by Luke Briscoe who ran in Rovers’ third try of the afternoon.  It wasn’t long before the right edge fired again with Leilua finding his way across the whitewash. Rovers rang the changes with Albert Vete and Yusuf Aydin making their debuts, taking a commanding 20-2 lead into half time.

The second half saw Batley get over for their first of the afternoon through Josh Hodson.  This was cancelled out within three minutes as Batley spilled the ball on their final play, only to see Connor Jones collect and sprint 85m up the field. It was all Batley from that point with Rovers showing a dogged determination in defence.  Gledhill got Batley’s second try before Dane Manning was shown a yellow for a crusher tackle, then moments later Brad Day was shown yellow for persistent lying on. McGowan got Batley’s third to set up a tense final few minutes, but Rovers held out despite pressure from the hosts.