Featherstone Rovers boss pleased to have 'medical miracle' Ben Reynolds back

The return of Reynolds to the starting line-up helped Rovers to return to winning ways with a 34-6 victory over London Broncos in the 1895 Cup quarter-finals.

The half-back had missed the last six matches through an ankle injury and while on the sidelines the team only won of those fixtures.

He picked up another injury and could not play out the full 80 minutes against London, but head coach Cooke expects to be able to call on his playmaker for this Sunday’s return to Championship action at Oldham.

He said: “He’s okay, it was not his ankle that was the problem, it was hip.

"As soon as we got out to a lead Ben was always coming off the field.

"He’s a medical miracle to get back from a syndesmosis operation inside five weeks.

"We haven’t rushed Benny back by any stretch of the imagination as he’s ticked all the boxes and we got the okay from the surgeon.

"Ben will look after himself this week and we’ll get him back on the field next week. Hopefully the flow of the team and the consistency in the halves gives us a chance moving forward.”

Ryan Hampshire made his debut as Reynolds’ half-back partner and will improve for the performance according to Cooke.

He explained: “As far as the two halves go they will get better.

"I don’t think either of them were great. But they’ve both came back after long term lay-offs and only had one week’s training in terms of three practice sessions, preparation going into a game.

"I thought Jonesy (Connor Jones) did a good job when he came on and went to seven. That was a contingency plan if Ben or Ryan didn’t pull through.”

Rovers’ victory was at a cost with back rower Brad Day picking up an injury that saw him have to leave the field in the first half.

"We feel for Brad. He’s done the same injury on the other side at the beginning of the season,“ explained Cooke.

"He’s a massive part of our team and keeping everybody level headed off the field. He’s a leader for us and I’m bitterly disappointed for Brad and send him our well wishes.”

On the performance against London, Cooke added: “It was better, we got some round pegs in round holes.

"We had a full-back playing full-back and had a couple of halves that are very good in terms of experience. Gadwin (Springer) in the middle was great.

"They gave us a lift and we knew that getting some players back would help us on the field.

"But I can’t say it hasn’t been a stressful month. We’ve played poorly and we spoke about the Bradford loss being a turning point in our season. I thought the players bought into that and what you saw was a real determined group.

"We’re slowly turning the corner and the players have proved they are definitely on board.”