Sean Long praises ‘collective team performance’ after Featherstone Rovers thrash Barrow Raiders

After overcoming a bright start by the visitors, ten players contributed to 11 tries as Fev maintained their 100 per cent record in the Championship.

Speaking after his side’s 13th win from 13 games, Long said:

“I thought we came out of the blocks slow but, to be fair, I thought Barrow came with a good game plan. They wanted to test us, kicking on play one, play two, trying to catch us off guard a little bit.

“I know the coach (Paul Crarey), he is a great man and a great coach. I spoke to him before the game and he said, “We are coming here to play.” And, like every team does, they came here to play to try and knock us off.

“I was expecting a tough game and it was, especially the first period of the first half and first period of the second half, we were under the pump a little bit.”

He added: “But credit to our boys, we kept turning them away. Once we got set-for-set and a bit of flow into the game, our middles took over and made plenty of metres. Then our outside backs played off the back of that.

“When you have got people like Jono Ford (Jonathon Ford), Tomas Lacans, Caleb Aeikins, (Matty) Wildie and Jonesy (Connor Jones) controlling that spine which releases Gaz Gale, Brisc (Luke Briscoe), Hank (Chris Hankinson), Hally (Craig Hall) and people like that, it freed us up to play a bit more unstructured footy. We have been practising that and it looked really good.

“We have got strength all over the park. If they fill the field defensively we can play through them. If they want to defend tight we can shift it to our edges.

“We all know our role. To get ten different players scoring was very good and I was very pleased. Everyone is playing for one another. We then only conceded one try which I was made up with. I am all about defence.

“It was a really collective team performance today and I was really pleased by that.”

The game will be etched into the Rovers’ history books for Briscoe - who was born in Featherstone - scoring the club’s 12,000th try, while Jones grabbed his 50th try for the club.

“Unbelievable,” said Long in reference to Briscoe’s landmark try. “He is Fev through and through. I coached him at Leeds. He is a great professional, a great lad and he is as strong as an ox.

“For him to get that milestone, there is no one more fitting than Luke. It will go down in history.

“We also celebrated Jonesy’s 50th try today. He scored two and we celebrated that.”

On the performance of the sensational Lacans, Long said:

“When he came eight months ago, Tomas couldn’t speak a word of English. Now he is running the show.

“We have put a lot of hard work into Tomas Lacans and it is paying dividends now. Fordy has been working with him, Leon Pryce, myself. He is a tough little rooster and he has come up with a great try today and set a couple up.”