Match 21: Leeds Rhinos (Away: Challenge Cup Quarter
Final)fevnut's musings
A good test?
When I tuned in to the Challenge Cup draw and
heard that we would be playing Leeds at Headingley I was pleased. It wasn’t
because I thought we could win, nor was it because it’s only a short trip to
Headingley. The reason was that I thought this tie would be an ideal test to
see how the Rovers squad has improved since the, frankly embarrassing,
performances in the Qualifiers last year and a good experience for the team
prior to this year’s Qualifiers (assuming, of course, that we can retain our
top four position).
So, what a disappointment it is that the
re-arrangement of the Swinton match means that we are likely to rest a number of
players for the Challenge Cup tie. No chance to judge how we are progressing,
and no chance to give our squad some valuable experience.
It’s not, however, always a bad thing to give
others a chance of a game. No-one who was there can possibly forget the
wonderful performance we put in at Perpignan in 2015 in a Challenge Cup match with
a team that included debuts for both Sam Day and Luke Cooper and with Kyran
Johnson at fullback (his second game). But there’s one thing for sure. There
weren’t be any youngsters making their debuts in the team that faces Leeds for the simple reason that
there is no-one on the Fev books who has not already made their debut. And that
in turn is because of the awful position we find ourselves in with no reserve
or academy teams.
It used to be one of the greatest of pleasures
going to watch our junior teams, trying to spot the talent, and then the
excitement of watching them move up to the first team.
I will never forget going to Hull for a
Yorkshire Cup match in 1988 when Peter Fox included the young Paul Newlove on
the wing. He showed lots of promise but, to be frank, there was not much to
suggest that he was going to become one of the greatest centres of all time.
But that all changed very quickly and in no time he was producing magical
displays for us. Another exciting debut came in the rather silly Treize Tournoi
tournament at the end of the 1998 season, but it had to wait until the
beginning of the next season to see the real impact that the 18 year old Jamie
Rooney was to have in a Fev shirt.
We get new players, and that is exciting, but
for me it doesn’t match the feeling of watching one of our own progress into
the first team.
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Swinton Lions were a
club that were very nearly killed by their dual registration with Warrington
Wolves a few years ago. They totally lost their identity. I got to know some of
their passionate supporters who worked incredibly hard to save the club which
dates back to 1866! On Gareth Walker’s page this week you will find an article
about a book celebrating their history. Well worth a look:
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Another page I would like
to invite you to have a look at is fevnut’s open letter to Nigel Wood about the
complete farce of reports that appear on the RFL’s own website. You won’t
believe it!! Did you know that Richard Moore was playing at scrum-half and
apparently our own John Davies changed his name to James and played for
Bradford!! Yes, have a look.
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