1895 Cup final: Craig Hall confident Featherstone Rovers can see off tough Leigh Centurions challenge

Rovers have held the trophy since last July when they beat York City Knights 41-34 at Wembley, but will face fierce opposition from Leigh Centurions at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.

The arch-rivals have dominated the Betfred Championship so far this year, dropping just three points between them.

Two of those went to Rovers in a 28-6 home win in February and the only blot on their record is a draw at Batley Bulldogs the following month.

Leigh actually boast a tighter defence, giving them a better points difference, but goal kicker Craig Hall insists belief in Rovers’ camp is strong.

“If you’re not confident going into a game then there’s definitely something wrong,” said the former Wakefield Trinity back, who was man of the match in last year’s final.

“They are a big team and a strong team, but so are we.

“We’re looking forward to it.

“It’s going to be a good challenge and a good experience at a new stadium and hopefully we can bring the trophy back.”

The teams are expected to meet again at the end of the year, in the promotion-deciding Million Pound match.

Hall, though, insisted: “That’s then and the cup is this week and that’s what we’re looking forward to.

“We just want to win the game, which is a final at an amazing stadium.

“As it stands, we’re one and two in the league and are in form, but there’s a couple of teams below us who will put their names forward come the end of the year.

“We’re not even thinking about the Million Pound game; we’re just thinking about this game, then we’ve got a few fixtures close together so we need to get straight back into league form.”

Featherstone Rovers: from Pickersgill, Briscoe, Leilua, Hall, Gale, Kopczak, Lockwood, Ferres, Sene-Lefao, Bussey, Wildie, Davies, Moors, Hellewell, M Smith, Cooper, Cuthbertson, Jacks, Kheirallah, Ford, Hepi.

Leigh Centurions: from Aekins, Brand, Macdonald, Reynolds, Mellor, Sidlow, A Smith, Ioane, Wardle, Stone, Amone, Hingano, Chamberlain, Jones, Asiata, Roberts, Ipape, Inu, O’Donnell, Nakubuwai, Ferguson.

Referee: Liam Moore (Wigan).

Kick-off: Saturday, noon.