Featherstone Rovers vs Batley Bulldogs preview

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After an exciting 30-22 encounter between Featherstone and Batley last weekend in the second round of the Challenge Cup, the two sides will take to the field once again on Friday night in the opening round of the Betfred Championship.

Craig Lingard’s side gave Rovers a run for their money in the Cup tie, they were leading on the hour mark before late tries from James Harrison and Dean Parata sealed the victory for Rovers.

The meeting between the two Yorkshire clubs will be the third meeting in a month with the teams facing each other in a preseason friendly. Rovers have come away from the two meetings with the victory, Lingard’s Batley side will be hoping it is third time lucky on Friday night.

With two competitive games under their belts for the 2021 season James Webster is yet to see his side fall to a defeat with two wins from two. His side kicked off the new season with a dominant 41-16 victory against Bradford Bulls in the first round of the Challenge Cup which was followed up a week later with a win over Batley.

The Bulldogs were surprise winners in their opening game of the season against Halifax Panthers. A brilliant defensive effort saw Batley shock the 2018 cup semi finalist with a 19-6 victory.

Team News

James Webster has named a very similar squad to last weekend with Thomas Minns set to miss out after testing positive for COVID-19, whilst Tom Holmes is still recovering from an injury. Harvey Spence has replaced Minns in the Rovers 21-man squad.

There are three changes to the Batley 21-man squad from last week. Dale Morton, Ben Kaye and Dom Horn drop out with Dane Manning, Adam Gledhill and James Brown coming in.

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