Wembley can wait for Featherstone Rovers: Coach James Webster stays focused on Widnes Vikings showdown.

Thomas Minns will miss Wembley after suffering a broken leg in Rivers' win over London last week. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

Rovers face York City Knights in the 1895 Cup final next weekend, but Webster has had more pressing matters on his mind - including Sunday’s tough game at Widnes Vikings in the Betfred Championship (3pm).

“I haven’t got a clue what our team will be,” Webster insisted of next week.

“I haven’t given it much thought.

“Covid and week to week games and injuries just take up so much time I haven’t bothered looking two weeks ahead.

“It is a waste of time doing it, we will know more on Sunday night after we play.”

Rovers lost two players from their potential Wembley side when Jack Bussey and Thomas Minns were both injured in last week’s big win over London Broncos, but Webster said he won’t rest anybody for the game at Widnes.

“We will play our strongest available side,” he pledged.

“We are like every club in the country at the moment, we have got a fair few injuries so that will dictate our side a little bit.

“But we’ve been pretty good this year in not having to play people with injuries - when we’ve got someone available who can play that position, we have played them and rested that person [who is not fully fit].

“There have been some people who’ve played a fair few games with needles and we have allowed them to recover as soon as someone became available.

“We’ll work out exactly who we’ve got and pick our strongest side for the game.”

Getting through with no new concerns is a priority. Playing on an artificial pitch is not ideal, but York are in a similar situation away to London.

Webster said: “I think everyone now has played on plastic pitches, so it’s not the end of the world.

“We won’t let that factor too much into our consideration. We will worry about Wembley when it comes, but Widnes are going to be tough.

“They are one of the form teams in the competition, they ran us close and you could probably say were unlucky not to beat us when we played them in the [1895 Cup] semi-final, so it is going to be a tough game for us.”

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