Rovers opened the scoring in the first minute when a short ball from stand off Will Chadwick sent centre Justin Becker on a forty metre break and he found hooker Ryan Brown on his inside to race away and score under the posts. Chadwick converted but then five minutes later West Bank responded when the ball was kicked ahead by scrum half Matty Murphy and winger Kev Gamble managed to win the race to touchdown in the left corner.

The visitors went ahead shortly afterwards when a high kick from stand off Jordan Te-aho was inadvertently hacked across field by Rovers and that allowed West Bank to regain possession and hooker Ste Curphey found winger Jack White in support to score in the right corner.

Just before the half hour mark West Bank had Te-aho sin binned for a professional foul and from the penalty Rovers sent the ball out wide to Becker who stepped round two defenders to score in the right corner and then almost immediately Brown passed out wide to substitute Jay Ryder who then combined with Chadwick to send Becker clear and he put winger Chris Twigg over in the right corner. Chadwick added the conversion.

Five minutes before the break and still while West Bank were down to twelve men Rovers went over again when a lovely ball from second row Sean Conway put Becker over in the right corner. Chadwick converted to make the half time score 22-8 to Rovers.

Rovers moved further ahead a minute into the second half when substitute Sam Dobson picked up a loose ball and found full back Wil Maudsley and he broke through the West Bank defensive line to race away and score under the posts. Twigg converted and then three minutes later good work from Becker saw him put Twigg over in the right corner.

The Bears went over for their third try when White pounced on a loose pass from Rovers and raced eighty metres unchallenged to score in the left corner but then shortly afterwards he was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes for dissent and then just after the hour a break by Rovers substitute Matt Davy split the West Bank defence and he found Ryder on his outside to score on the left. As the try was awarded West Bank had centre Will Donnelly dismissed for dissent.

Rovers last try came when loose forward Harry Files made a superb break down the middle and he found Brown in support on his inside to score under the posts. Twigg converted and then three minutes later the Bears had Curphey yellow carded for a high tackle and the referee decided to call an end to the game seven minutes early due to the away sides poor discipline as Rovers recorded a fully deserved 42-12 win.

After the game Rovers Head Coach John Fieldhouse said, “That was a very pleasing display from all of the squad; we really did play some outstanding Rugby League and scored several excellent tries. Our defence was really good and I was also happy with our discipline. We have worked extremely hard over the past three months in training and it was nice to see the lads put that practice into a game situation. There are still some areas that we need to improve on and we will be doing that this week in readiness for our last pre-season fixture against local neighbours Crosfields this coming Saturday, kick off 1.00pm at Monks Sports Club. This will be by far our stiffest test to date and a game that we are really looking forward to. Crosfields were deserved Champions of NCL Division Three last season so it will be good to face them again, even though it isn’t a league game.”

Rovers NWML side will start their 2017 season with a home game against Halton Farnworth Hornets ‘A’ in the NWML Shield Preliminary Round, kick off 2.30pm and new Coach Andy Penny will be hoping that his side can get off to a winning start. He said, “It will be good to get a game under our belts and with it being a cup competition it is one that we will be desperate to win. We have a lot of our Under 18s side from last season who have moved up into the Open Age this year and coupled with the experienced lads we already had then we can look forward to a positive campaign.”

ROVERS v WEST BANK

Wil Maudsley, Chris Twigg, Justin Becker, Lewis Hoarty, Christian Taylor, Will Chadwick, Conner Muir, Dan Fearnley, Ryan Brown, John-Paul Ainsworth, Cameron Davies, Sean Conway, Harry Files.

Subs: Sam Dobson, Billy Maunder, Callum Harnett-Smy, Matt Davy, Conner Scrivens, Jay Ryder, Jacob Proudlove.