Hornets looking to do the double over Featherstone Rovers

Hornets Rugby League

Rochdale Hornets begin May with the visit of high flying Featherstone Rovers who will be on the lookout for revenge following their defeat to Hornets back in March.

That day marks Hornets’ last victory as they have drawn one and lost seven, but they gained a lot of positives from their last outing away to Hull KR where they went down 24-16 against the league leaders.

Featherstone currently sit in third position in the Championship table and are just four points off the top, with Toulouse Olympique ahead on points difference.

Since their loss to the Hornets, Rovers have won five of their seven league fixtures with their only defeats coming to the two sides above them in the table.

Featherstone may have picked up a 25-14 victory at home to Sheffield Eagles in their previous run-out, however John Sharples, their head coach, cut a frustrated figure in his post-match press conference.

He claimed that his players gave him a ‘headache’ as they didn’t respect the ball with a poor completion rate of 45%.

They might have one eye on their Challenge Cup tie with Halifax, which is being shown live on Sky Sports on Thursday night, but with top four aspirations they won’t be able to afford to take any games lightly.

Jo Taira will come back into contention for Hornets following a one-match suspension to boost the Hornets’ forward pack. Samir Tahraoui remains banned. Ryan Maneely will be unavailable again after a small operation and Jono Smith is a doubt following a knee injury. Jay Lobwein is back after his loan spell and could feature. Kevin Penny is available after his return from injury.