Brian McDermott takes the positive as Featherstone Rovers are beaten by Catalans Dragons

Brian McDermott looked to the positives as Catalans Dragons were pushed all the way by his spirited Featherstone Rovers side and left it late to book their place in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals with a hard-fought 27-14 win.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Tries in the last 20 minutes from Tyrone May and Tom Davies spared the Dragons’ blushes against a rugged and resilient Rovers.

McDermott said: “We had a brilliant start and caught Catalans out but we just couldn’t get a grip of the second half.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’re disappointed with the result but we found out a lot about ourselves today.

HEAD COACH: Brian McDermott. Picture: Dec Hayes Photography.HEAD COACH: Brian McDermott. Picture: Dec Hayes Photography.
HEAD COACH: Brian McDermott. Picture: Dec Hayes Photography.

“We could have gone through and kept the Challenge Cup dream alive for another weekend, but we found a little more about ourselves. We had a scratchy performance last week and we’ve put that to bed.

“In spells there we looked very good but in other spells we looked tired and Catalans’ kicking game at the end of sets was outstanding.”

Rovers were first to score when second-row Josh Hardcastle put a flick pass from the tackle to allow full-back Brandon Pickersgill to cross the line then Rovers charged-down and regained possession to put centre Joey Leilua in at the right after eight minutes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Dragons clawed their way back in the 18th minute when Sam Tomkins spun the ball wide to Fouad Yaha, who crossed to score at the left corner flag, then prop-forward Sam Kasiano created the space for Yaha to score his second in the exact same spot to make it 10-8.

Featherstone held out with some solid defence until the interval but came out fighting after the break when Leilua broke the Dragons’ defence and sprinted 60 metres to score his second try after 42 minutes.

But Kasiano put Catalans level for the first time in the game when he crashed over the line beside the posts then May side stepped through the Rovers line to score, Tomkins converting to make it 20-14.

Winger Tom Davies got his first try of the season with a short-range burst into the right corner after Rovers had been forced into a series of goal-line drop-outs from their own line and Tomkins’ touchline conversion put daylight between the sides at 26-14 with only seven minutes remaining.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A drop-goal by Tomkins three minutes from the end sealed the match much to the relief of coach Steve McNamara.

McNamara fielded a strong enough side after he revealed a bout of flu and illness had hit the squad prior to the Challenge Cup contest.

He said: “There are a few reasons for us not to do well tonight, we had a lot of flu and illness in the camp.

“So in a tricky game, being 10-0 down from the start, it was tough, but we managed to fight our way back into it and winning is all that matters in the Challenge Cup.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Catalans: Tomkins, Davies, Romano, Laguerre, Yaha, May, Drinkwater, Dudson, Da Costa, Napa, Chan, Jullien, Garcia. Subs: McMeeken, Goudemand, Rougé, Kasiano

Featherstone: Pickersgill, Briscoe, Leilua, Hall, Gale, Smith, Jacks, Cooper, Wildie, Lockwood, Ferres, Hardcastle, Moors. Subs: Bussey, Davies, Field, Cuthbertson.

Referee: A. Moore.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.