Featherstone Rovers 12 Catalans Dragons 22 After last week's disappointing display and news of even more injuries, there can't have been many fans that approached the Chris Moyles Stadium this afternoon with any sort of optimism for the result. Facing the in-form team of Super League who hadn't lost for seven games, and presently were third in the table, was a daunting prospect and even the die-hards could only hope that we played with the same passion and commitment we showed at Perpignan last year. In the end the passion and commitment was such that it was the Catalans that were relieved to hear the final whistle and very few of the crowd moved at the end of the game as they cheered and applauded a valiant effort by the part timers. The game started with Rovers kicking off up the hill and both sides had to tackle well in the first ten minutes as they exchanged sets and neither side gained The deadlock was finally broken on the 15th minute. Once again a penalty followed by good forward drives gave Rovers field position in the Dragon's 20. As the ball was passed along the line from left to right a beautiful dummy by Tommy Haughey committed the defender and left Waine Pryce room to outflank the sliding defence and score in the corner. The angle proved too much for Stuart as he missed the kick, but Rovers were in the lead. Seasoned supporters were quick to point out that Rovers had scored first the last time SL opposition came to the CMS in the cup and had then conceded 80 points, but today was certainly going to be different. In fact it only took the Catalans five minutes to take the lead but in the meantime excellent Rovers tackling had knocked them back over and over again. The ball was finally spread wide on the sixth tackle and it looked as though the Rovers defenders had been able to tackle the winger Murphy but he was able to slide over to score in the corner. Thomas Bosc showed why he is recognised as one of the best kickers in SL as he converted the try from the touchline. The tackling from both sides was immense on occasions. First Andy Kirk was floored by a bone cruncher that dislodged the ball and then only seconds later an equally good tackle by James Houston hammered full back Dimitri Pelo backwards. A good attack by Rovers, where again the ball was spread to the right came to nothing when a wayward pass could only be palmed on by Kirk, eluding Waine Pryce, to go into touch. From the scrum Catalans were to score their second try. Once again the ball was spread all the way across the park from left to right but this time as both defenders went to cover the winger Murphy, the centre Vincent Duport cut back off his right to cross the line. Once again a good kick by Bosc added the extras. We immediately saw a Rover's mistake lead to points for the opposition . The kick off bounced through the Dragon players to go over the dead ball line and force a drop out. But then, just when we looked to be once again on the attack Pryce in his eagerness to pick and go in one movement knocked on, to immediately hand possession back. Catalans made the most of this and once again Rovers defence were slow to slide as Duport again crossed in the corner. This time Bosc's attempt bounced back of the post and the half closed with Rovers behind but still very much in touch. The second half saw Featherstone playing some of the best rugby of the game. Time and again good drives and intelligent kicks saw Rovers threatening the Catalans line. They finally converted this pressure into points when a break through the middle by Tiger Handforth was supported by Stuart Dickens. With markers between him A period of good Rover's pressure came to an end when once again a break came on the Catalans right. As Duport was tackled he released the ball to Murphy who powered down the wing. It looked as though the attack had been halted when Tommy Saxton covered good ground across the field to tackle the winger but Adam Mogg had been trailing the move on the inside and was able to take Murphy's pass and score an unconverted try. Once again Rovers were on the attack as the kick off went dead and Catalans had to drop out under the sticks. The Frenchmen were then penalised for offside and after another jinking run by Tiger, Houston crossed the line only to be held up on his back. Soon after this a run by Tommy Saxton should have led to a try as he grounded the ball on the line. Mr Thaler, though, was unsighted and by the time he had During the fourth quarter when common sense said Rovers should be wilting against the full timers from France, they instead were running all the moves and looked by far the most dangerous side. Only last gasp tackling kept them out on a number of occasions. The break had to come and it did in sparkling rugby. Once again Rovers spread the ball quickly along the line and Tommy Haughey was there running in the centres to In fact it was Catalans who were to close the scoring. They were awarded a penalty for stripping the ball and although the fact that they went for the two points showed the respect they had for the Rovers side the decision was met by derisive hoots from the home crowd. For the last five minutes Rovers still looked like the team with the energy left and one tackle by Sean Hesketh that dislodged the ball typified the effort. Suffice to say that as the whistle went to end the game it was the Catalans heads down who trooped off, totally ignoring their small band of travelling fans. Rovers now have to carry this effort, commitment and width of play into the 'bread and butter' games for the rest of the season and produce the results the fans want.
Half Time 4 - 16 Referee Mr B Thaler Scoring sequence 4-0, 4-4, 4-6, 4-10, 4-12, 4-16, 8-16, 8-20, 12-20, 12-22 Game breaker: Rovers were never broken but two tries in quick succession, both on the back of errors gave the Catalans 10 points which was the winning margin. Crowd 650 © 2008 Stuart Lonsdale Any comments (constructive criticism welcomed) or volunteers please email webmaster@featherstonerovers.net
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control. If anything Featherstone were completing better sets as intelligent kicks on the last by both half backs resulted in some confusion in the Dragon's defence.
and supporting players he decided to put boot to ball and put a grubber into the corner. Any one of three Rovers players could have scored but it was Andy Kirk who picked the ball up and dived over to score. Stuart's conversion attempt was not as accurate as his kick through and the score stayed at 8 - 16. 
raced round to the other side of the tackle Tommy had been pulled back from the line and the try was disallowed. Oh for a video referee!
release Pryce to score his second try in the corner. The kick was missed but the score was 12-20 and Rovers looked the more likely team to score again. 
