Featherstone Rovers Records: Tries in a Match

Featherstone Rovers Records: 
Tries in a Match

Record History

In Rovers first season as a professional club (1921-22) no player managed to record a hat trick but on 7 occasions players managed a brace. The first of these was by scrum-half Joe Kirkham at home to Keighley on September 17th, 1921. Joe was followed that year by Jack Hirst (twice), Joe Kirkham again, Taylor Johnson, Sid Denton and Billy Clements.

Early on in the following season, Joe Kirkham scored two tries in a match for the third time and Norman Tait also bagged a pair. Then, on the 23rd December, 1922, Joe Hirst (Rover’s first international player) scored the first ever hat trick for Fev. In fact he went one better with 4 tries in that match which was at home against Bradford Northern.

Jim Denton equalled Jack Hirst’s 4 tries on 25th April, 1925. This time the opponents were York and it was the final game of that season.

Almost exactly four years later, Jack Hirst reclaimed the record for himself when he scored 5 tries in a match on April 24th 1929. Once again Hirst did it in a home match against Bradford Northern.

That record was to remain unbeaten and unequalled for the next 39 years. It was 13th April, 1968 and ironically (see below) Fev were playing Doncaster. Mick Smith was playing his 124th game for Fev and he had never managed a hat trick. But that day, amazingly, he scored 6 tries to set the new record and in the subsequent 50 years it has never been beaten. Mick was a Challenge Cup winner with Fev twice - in 1967 and in 1983. In the commentary by Eddie Waring of one of those matches he captures brilliantly the essence of Fev at that time when he says “and there’s Mick Smith. He’s the foreigner in the team - he comes from Doncaster.”

During the rest of the pre-summer era the highest number of tries anyone managed was the 5 that were scored by Mel Mason against Bramley at home on the 10th February, 1973.

Just over 21 years passed after Mick Smith scored his 6 tries in a match before that figure was matched by Chris Bibb. It was the first round of the Yorkshire Cup against Keighley on 17th September, 1989. Fev hammered Keighley 86-18. In that game not only did Chris Bibb equal the try scoring in a match record but two more records were also achieved which we will come onto in later posts. You would have thought that the scoreline indicated that Keighley were a pretty poor team but three of those players on the day were signed by Fev in the next few months and all proved to be assets to Rovers. The three were Owen Simpson, Terry Manning and Gary Rose.

Summer Era

Until 2018, no player had scored more than 5 tries in a match in the summer era. Indeed between 1996 and 2005 the highest was 4 tries in a match which was achieved seven times by Darren Hughes (v Hull Kingston Rovers in 1997), Steve Collins (v Keighley Cougars in 1998), Wayne Simonds (v Keighley Cougars in 1999), Richard Chapman (v Wigan Saint Patrick’s in 2000), Jamie Rooney (v Swinton Lions in 2002), Richard Newlove (v Castleford Lock Lane in 2004), and Matty Wray (v Thornhill Trojans in 2005).

Then, on 12th March 2006, in a Challenge Cup 3rd round tie against Skirlaugh, Wayne McHugh set a new record for the Summer Era to scoring 5 tries in a match. That feat was repeated three times. Ian Hardman did it twice - against Doncaster in 2009 and against London Broncos, away, in 2016. Tangi Ropati scored 5 against Swinton Lions in 2012.

Finally we come to July 1st this year. Brad Dwyer was playing for Fev in his second match on dual registration from Leeds. The match was at home against Rochdale Hornets. Dwyer started on the subs bench and only came on in the 21st minute. Amazingly, within 10 minutes he had scored a hat trick and went on to add 3 more to equal Rovers ‘All Time’ record of 6 in a match. Coach, John Duffy, took him off in the 63rd minute so Dwyer’s 6 tries were scored when he was only on the pitch for a total of 42 minutes. An unbelievable  achievement!

Footnote

There have been several times over the years when players have got to the 5 try mark and we have been urging them on hoping to see them equal or even break the record. It was different in the case of Brad Dwyer. We were quite glad to see him taken off. fevnut really didn’t want to see the record held by Mick Smith (374 appearances) and Chris Bibb (246 appearances), who were two great players and servants of Featherstone Rovers, wiped off by a player who was not ‘one of ours’!