Sean Long proud of players' efforts as Featherstone Rovers nil Widnes on their own pitch
Head coach Sean Long was understandably pleased with his Featherstone Rovers players as they kept their hosts scoreless and recorded one of their most impressive victories of the season at Widnes Vikings.
A strong all-round display saw Rovers show their attacking prowess in the first half and their defensive strength throughout as they ran out 30-0 winners against opponents who are traditionally hard to beat on their 3G pitch.
"I’m really delighted,” said Fev boss Long. “We’ve had a good week’s training.
"We sat down with the boys and gave them some real clarity on how we wanted them to play, attacking and defensively.
"We knew it was going to be tough, Widnes away, on the 3G. They know how to play on this pitch so I am really happy with the boys and couldn’t be more proud.
"Keeping them to zero was a big thing and we’ve managed to score 30 points.
"The second half got a little scratchy, a sin-binning and a couple of missed penalties, a six again and stuff like that, but you can see that they are working hard – it showed in the last couple of minutes when we were still trying to keep them out.”
Long got his first look at highly rated young Australian forward Arama Hau who made his debut for the club following his recent move from the Gold Coast Titans that will see him stay at Featherstone until the end of the season.
He felt his way in after coming off the bench and looks like being another big asset for Rovers in their bid to reach Super League in 2023.
Fev quickly established control as they looked to make it 11 wins from 11 in the Betfred Championship against opponents with promotion ambitions of their own.
Only desperate defence denied Thomas Lacans early on as he was held on the line despite a determined effort.
But there was no denying Gareth Gale in the tenth minute as he scored a remarkable solo try, racing more than 80 metres and beating half the Widnes team on a thrilling, pacy and skilful run to the line from deep in his own half. Craig Hall converted and the visitors were on the way.
Jack Bussey added to the lead with the next try after being sent over by a smart Riley Dean pass and Hall goaled again.
Gale’s acrobatic finish in the corner stretched the lead to 16 points before he completed his impressive hat-trick with a 90 metre race to the line after picking off a loose Widnes pass. Hall’s third goal made it 22-0 at half-time.
Hall turned try scorer after the break with a strong finish in the left corner and with the job done Rovers perhaps eased off.
Mistakes crept into the game and they went down to 12 men for 10 minutes with Bussey sin-binned.
It was not until five minutes rom time that they got over the line again with Connor Jones scoring their sixth try of the afternoon after following up a great run and offload by new boy Hau.
Featherstone are next in action at the Summer Bash at the York LNER Stadium when they will take on York Knights on Saturday, May 27 (kick-off 7.30pm).