LIONS KNOCKED OUT OF CORAL CHALLENGE CUP

31 March 2019

Swinton Lions have been knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Featherstone Rovers in round four.

Swinton Lions have been knocked out of the Coral Challenge Cup after falling to a 38-14 defeat to Featherstone Rovers at the LD Nutrition Stadium.

The Lions are out of this year’s Challenge Cup after being blown away by a strong Rovers performance down the slope in the first half.

Both sides gave the chance to field some fringe players and this came at a cost to the Lions losing Rob Fairclough, Billy Brickhill and Paddy Jones to injury through the match. Rovers took the lead on six minutes when Thompson Teteh opened the scoring on the left but Watson Boas could not convert and it got worse four minutes later when Teteh scored again in the same spot but this time Cameron King missed the conversion.

The Lions hit back on fifteen minutes when Gavin Bennion scored his third try in three games going over by the posts and Oscar Thomas converted but Rovers came straight back from the kick off following a Lions handling error when Jack Broadbent scored in the corner and King missed again.

Mike Butt the scored his fiftieth try and two hundredth point for the Lions when he went over in the right corner but Thomas could not convert this from the touchline.

Again the Lions made an error at the restart and Teteh forced his way over for his third try but dislocated his shoulder whilst scoring and had to leave the field but King did convert this to give his side and eight point lead.

Rovers then added two more tries before the break with Scott Wheeldon and Boas both going over and King converted both but the Lions lost Lewis Hatton to the sin bin just after Wheeldon scored.

Rovers took the game away from the Lions in the opening fifteen minutes of the second half when Brad Day and King both added further tries but neither were converted.

An incident involving Fairclough went on report just after the King try and then Wheeldon was sent to the bin for a punch in the tackle on Jamie Acton but it was the Lions who got the last try of the match when Harry Aaronson dived over in the left corner with eleven minutes left but Thomas could not convert.

Ian Rigg reporting from LD Nutrition Stadium.

MATCH FACTS

Rovers: Render, Hardcastle, Harrison, Teteh, Broadbent, Richardson, Boas, Wheeldon, King, Makatoa, Day, Davies, Lockwood.

Subs: Cooper, Maskill, Ormondroyd, Beckitt.

Tries: Teteh (6′,10′,25′), Broadbent (18′), Wheeldon (30′), Boas (38′), Day (47′), King (55′)

Goals: Boas 0/1, King 3/7

Lions: Hansen, Butt, Forsyth, Thomas, Aaronson, Smith, Fairclough, Bennion, Waterworth, Hall, Williams, Hatton, Acton.

Subs: Brickhill, Ganson, P.Jones, Kenga.

Tries: Bennion (15′), Butt (23′), Aaronson (69′)

Goals: Thomas 1/3

Referee: Liam Moore

HT: 30-10 FT: 38-14

Photo credits: Pete Green and Emily Parker