Leeds Rhinos trio impress for Featherstone Rovers

Leeds Rhinos winger Luke Briscoe, stand-off Callum McLelland and loose-forward Jarrod O’Connor were “outstanding,” in Featherstone’s 38-18 Betfred Championship win at Batley Bulldogs, according to Rovers coach James Webster.
Jarrod O'Connor in pre-season action against Featherstone. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.Jarrod O'Connor in pre-season action against Featherstone. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.
Jarrod O'Connor in pre-season action against Featherstone. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.

“I thought Jarrod, on debut against men - his first open-age game - got around the pitch really well and will only get better,” Webster - who has a part-time role as assistant-coach at Leeds - said.

“He played 35 minutes striaght in the middle which, for a young kid, was really good."

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McLelland and Briscoe have impressed for Rovers in the past and Webster added: “Callum was in our top couple of players, as he always is and Luke carried the ball extremely well and took a fantastic try in the corner.

Callum McLelland. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.Callum McLelland. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.
Callum McLelland. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.

"He and Callum got together and came up with a really special play. I was really happy with them.”

Webster described Rovers’ opening league performance as “solid”.

He said: “Batley made it difficult for us on a difficult pitch and I was happy to get away with a 20-point win.

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"They scored from a kick and a couple of other sloppy things.

"I thought we were easily the better team, but they made it dogged and hard for us.

"Brett Ferres [the former Rhinos forward on his competitive debut] was outstanding and we caused them all kinds of problems on that left-edge.

"We just couldn't quite put four or five chances away, but we will get better."

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Rovers will be without scrum-half Dane Chisholm for Sunday’s visit of Halifax. He received a three-match ban after being sin-binned for a dangerous tackle in a pre-season win over Leeds.

"He'll miss two games in the Challenge Cup so that's a good opportunity for [Loiuis] Jouffret or [Jake Sweeting]."