23 September 2023

Featherstone Rovers ended their 2023 league campaign in celebratory style. Off the field the team were presented with the League Leaders Shield, the Woman’s team with the Super League Two Winners Trophy and tribute was paid to the career of retiring club skipper James Lockwood. On the field, Rovers overran Widnes with an eleven-try show which featured some spectacular scores.

Thomas Lacans started the ball rolling early with a trademark try, and when Craig Hall added the second, things looked ominous for the visitors. They competed for the rest of the half though, scoring two good tries of their own, whilst Junior Moors ran a great line through the Widnes defence to score, and Gareth Gale grabbed his first to leave Rovers 24-10 up at half-time. Mark Kheirallah landed all four conversions and went on to kick nine from eleven overall.

The second half was one-way traffic as Rovers ran in a further seven tries past the demoralised Vikings. Caleb Aekins backed up to open the second half scoring and the tries flowed from then on. Chris Hankinson rose to claim a high kick and touch down, a revitalised Joey Leilua powered over out wide and Gareth Gale scored his second with an acrobatic leap in at the corner. Leilua grabbed his second in similar fashion to his first, Connor Jones popped over from acting half after captain Lockwood had gone close, and the final points were added by Caleb Aekins, taking Rovers past sixty points.