Featherstone Rovers 24

St. Helens 56

FEATHERSTONE came out smiling after generous Saints let them off the hook when the scene looked set for a massacre.

'Only' losing by 32 points in this Challenge Cup clash left the home fans delighted as Saints took their foot off the pedal towards the end and allowed an outclassed Rovers side to restore some pride.

'Men against boys' had been the universal verdict after Saints had rattled up 50 points in as many minutes, but a late rally of four tries in 18 minutes gave Shaun McRae some food for thought before the next round.

Skipper Bobbie Goulding, who orchestrated play magnificently for the first hour of the game, later admitted his disappointment at his side's sloppy play in the final quarter.

He said: "If you let 20 points go against teams like Bradford and Wigan then you lose games, so it's worrying. They kept going for 80 minutes and we stepped off the gas when we shouldn't have."

It was a surprising end to a game that appeared to be heading towards a 80 point plus total for Saints when they went 50-0 ahead with half an hour still on the clock.

A young Featherstone side simply did not have the physical presence to compete and Goulding was combining to thrilling effect with Tommy Martyn and new boy Paul Sculthorpe.

Rovers had also made life difficult for themselves by choosing to play up the Post Office Road slope after winning the toss.

It took Saints just four minutes to get off he mark when Karle Hammond threw a smart dummy and raced in at the corner.

Goulding was passing to devastating effect, seemingly able to find gaps in the Rovers' defence at will.

He set up Martyn and Sculthorpe for two tries each and combined well with Paul Newlove before Hammond scored his second next to the posts.

They went into the break 32-0 ahead and knowing it could have been more but for some sloppy handling in a completely one-sided half.

Saints showed no sign of slowing down after the break as Martyn broke through on 43 minutes and Chris Joynt put in some nifty footwork before putting through Goulding to score.

Keiron Cunningham and Joynt ran in further tries and Saints seemed to take the half century as a sign to put their feet up.

The arrival of Ty Fallins from the substitute's bench for Rovers and the sin binning of Apollo Perelini for holding on 54 minutes also gave the home side further impetus as they hit back.

Fallins provided some much needed bite in attack and he threw an excellent dummy to finally get Rovers off the mark on 56 minutes. He also converted.

Chris Smith grabbed hold of a Goulding cross kick and dived over to respond for Saints six minutes later.

But Rovers continued to pour forward, being awarded a penalty try for obstruction and Richard Newlove - Paul's younger brother - getting on the end of Fallins' bomb for their third try.

Exciting youngster Karl Pratt dived on a grubber kick to complete the scoring and leave the Rovers fans smiling in defeat.

Saints coach Shaun McRae was in a relaxed mood after the game, despite the disappointing close.

He said: "We worked hard when it counted and had the game won by half-time. That's pleasing for a side that's short on match practice and includes several players coming back from long lay offs.

"In the first half, our power, speed and precision showed the difference between first division and Super League. We tired at the end and playing against the slope didn't help but we got through to the next round and that's the important thing.

"It doesn't matter if you win by 10 points or 100 points just as long as you win in this competition. I expect this sort of thing at this time of year."

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