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3 weeks ago
09 March 2020
Swinton Lions put in a strong performance but fell just short against Featherstone Rovers in the Betfred Championship.
Featherstone Rovers 35-24 Swinton Lions
The Lions put in easily their best performance of the season against the high flying Rovers and were unlucky to fall to a close defeat in the end.
Rovers had the first chance in the third minute when Dane Chisholm put Alex Susino through a gap by the posts, but he couldn’t hold the pass and the chance went to ground. The Lions took their chance three minutes later when a neat chip kick by Rob Fairclough down the left side was gathered in the air by Mitch Cox and he scored the opening try, with Jack Hansen adding the conversion.
It got even better on eleven minutes when Fairclough finished off a good passing movement to side step and score under the posts, with Hansen again converting.
From the restart the kick off from Craig Hall sailed dead and from the resulting penalty the Lions put pressure again on the Rovers line. It took some good defence to stop Gavin Bennion increasing the Lions lead and the Rovers had another chance with this time Alex Sutcliffe breaking clear to feed the ball to Chisholm, but the pass was judged forward by referee Jack Smith.
James Harrison opened the Rovers scoring on eighteen minutes. After a break by Louis Jouffret as he scored under the posts and Chisholm added the simple conversion but the Lions hit back with a Hansen penalty goal when Will Hope was tackled without the ball.
The game was going from end-to-end and the next try was a spectacular one from a Lions error when they were pressuring the Rovers line and kicked on the last tackle. It was gathered up by Hall on his own line and he broke free to feed Ben Blackmore and he then drew the defence for Jouffret to finish off the full length of the field move to score under the posts. Chisholm added the extras to put his side within two points of the Lions.
Sam Grant pulled off a try stopping tackle three minutes from the break and then Oscar Thomas broke clear down field and instead of taking on the defence the ball was passed to Hansen and he couldn’t take the low pass for what would have been a certain try.
Instead with just seconds left of the half Rovers went in with the lead when Chisholm kicked to the left side and Toronto Wolfpack centre on loan scored in the left corner but Chisholm could not convert.
The Lions almost regained the lead within a couple of minutes of the second half starting when Mike Butt fed Cox, but he couldn’t hold the pass with the line open. In the build-up, Butt was hit late after the pass and the incident was placed on report. Rovers went further ahead on forty-four minutes when Worthington scored again but again the conversion was missed.
The Lions hit back again on fifty minutes when a great run by Frankie Halton ended with Butt scoring far out on the right, but Hansen could not convert to level the scores. The home side then took control scoring two tries in a six minute period with Worthington completing his hat trick and Blackmore scoring the other and Chisholm converted one of them to give his side a twelve point lead.
The Lions then had another good spell with Bennion being held up and then Richard Lepori going close on the left. Then on sixty-six minutes a lovely inside pass from Fairclough sent Butt over for his second and Hansen again converted to put the team within six points.
Some great defence by Fairclough and Lepori stopped Alex Sutcliffe from scoring and with four minutes left Chisholm kicked a drop goal to stretch the slender lead for his side.
The deciding try came with two minutes left when Worthington found the gap again to score his fourth but the conversion failed again and the game ended with the Lions on the attack but the home side just about held on to take the points.
Ian Rigg reporting from the LD Nutrition Stadium
Rovers: Hall, Gale, L.Sutcliffe, Worthington, Blackmore, Jouffret, Chisholm, Holroyd, Bussey, Susino, A.Sutcliffe, Hardcastle, Harrison. Subs: Carey, Ferres, Cooper, Albert.
Tries: Harrison (18), Jouffret (33), Worthington (40,44,54,78), Blackmore (60)
Goals: Chisholm 3/7 Drop Goal: Chisholm -1
Lions: Butt, Lepori, Grant, Cox, Wood, Hansen, Fairclough, Bennion, Waterworth, Hatton, Lloyd, Halton, Hope. Subs: Jones, Kenga, Brogan, Thomas.
Tries: Cox (6), Fairclough (10), Butt (50,66) Goals: Hansen 4/5
Referee: Jack Smith Att: 1874 Pens: 8-6 HT: 16-14