James Webster pleased with Featherstone Rovers display

Rovers were pipped 16-14 by Webster’s former club – both teams scoring three tries – and the Featherstone team boss insisted: “We got exactly what we wanted out of the game.”

Featherstone complete their pre-season campaign with a home game against dual-registration partner club Leeds Rhinos on Friday night and kick-off in the Betfred Championship away to Batley Bulldogs nine days later.

“We were scratching a side together before the game and we had no real idea of how we were going to go, so we turned up there and it gave us a lot of confidence,” Webster said of the result in East Yorkshire.

“I thought we looked like a real team.”

He added: “We can improve on that, but Hull KR are a really good Super League club.

“They train together full-time and they’ve been together a long time so it shows we’ve got a decent starting point this year.

“We’ll look forward to the next two weeks, getting some more training, then we’ll look forward to Batley.”

Rovers had drawn with York City Knights in a new year fixture before scoring a century of points against Valencia, in Spain, in their second warm-up match.

The visit to Hull College Craven Park was a step up in class and Webster reflected: “It was a real hard test for us.

“Hull KR were decent and I think they were pretty appreciative of the hit-out we gave them. It tested everyone.

“It shows we are a little bit off where we wanted to be, but in saying that it also shows we have got some decent rugby league players in our squad.

“When we get a few back, which we should do this week against Leeds, we are going to start building some combinations and hopefully we can kick on.”

Featherstone came through with no major fitness concerns and star signing Brett Ferres is set to feature against Leeds. Webster reported: “There’s a few bumps and bruises, with it being our first proper hit-out.

“It was a quick game for us and we found that quite difficult, but there’s no substantial injuries.”