Featherstone Rovers back to winning ways to keep Wembley dream alive
Featherstone Rovers shook off their recent form to stay on the Wembley trail in the 1895 Cup.
After defeats in their previous four matches it was a different Featherstone team in action at home to London Broncos in their quarter-final tie.
And they earned some revenge for a defeat in the Betfred Championship at London earlier in the season as they ran out 34-6 winners thanks to a strong second half display.
A place in the last four of the competition was in the balance with Rovers only 10-6 ahead at half-time, but they crossed for five unanswered tries after the break and will now join Bradford, York and Oldham in the semis with a place at Wembley at stake for the winners.
Featherstone were boosted by the return from injury of several first team players, including playmaker Ben Reynolds.
Recent signing Ryan Hampshire came in for his debut to play alongside Reynolds in the halves and this allowed Caleb Aekins to move back to his preferred position of full-back, where he shone in racing over for a hat-trick of tries to lead the scoring.
Rovers were made to work hard in the opening half, but opened the scoring when Connor Wynne combined well with Aekins who went over for the first of his three tries.
Reynolds added the conversion, but the Broncos swiftly hit back as they moved the ball wide and winger Liam Tindall found space to race almost 50 metres for a try to which Christopher Hellec added the extras.
Only a great tackle by Aekins prevented the visitors from going ahead when former Castleford Tigers forward Lewis Bienek made a powerful break before being tackled in a big last ditch effort.
But Rovers got back on top and in the 33rd minute they regained the lead as Aekins smartly stepped inside two tackles to score following good work by Hampshire.
The next score was always going to be key and it went to Fev nine minutes into the second half with Wynne diving over in the corner.
They extended the lead on the hour mark, Aekins completing his hat-trick as he somehow managed to reach over the line after taking advantage of more good work by Hampshire. With Reynolds tagging on the extras it was 20-6 and the home team had breathing space.
They were soon scoring again with Jayden Hatton collecting Reynolds’ kick to go over.
That was the cue for Reynolds to be taken off with Connor Jones going to half-back, but they were still able to score two more tries.
First, a great passing move led to centre Hatton bursting clear for his second try.
Then in the 76th minute Jones managed to slip a tackle on the left edge to race over. Hampshire, who had taken over the kicking duties, was left with a simple task to convert and the scoring was finished at 34-6.