Featherstone Rovers 34 Cougars 20 - COUGARS crashed to their second successive defeat -- as the Keighley defence fell apart.

Cougar old boy, Peter Roe, saw his team of youngsters tear his old club apart in a devastating first half. They played simple, basic rugby, waited to Keighley to make mistakes and then pounced.

On paper Featherstone Rovers were distant second favourites after winning just one of the first four games. But they were determined to claim the Cougar scalp and kick-start their season, and in scrum-half Jamie Rooney they had someone who could wreak havoc in the opposition defensive line.

The Cougars had no one to match his flair and determination -- until substitute Paul Owen was thrown into the fray deep in the second half.

Keighley's organisation looked shaky and on attack they struggled to create anything. In defence, particularly in the first half, they were worse. Time and again they let Rooney run across the line, failed to pick up support players and generally allowed Rovers to make good yardage.

They threw away a tremendous start provided by Karl Smith who scored one of the best tries of his career. Jason Ramshaw and Martin Wood threw the ball wide, Smith collected 60 metres out and shrugged off a string of tackles and dummied the full back to race over, Wood landing the simple conversion.

Keighley should have taken control but Rovers had other ideas. They ran in four tries in 17 minutes with considerable ease -- and looked capable of strolling over every time they attacked.

Rooney was the driving force, and after this performance it was easy to see why so many Super League clubs are showing interest. He put a speculative kick to the corner that deceived Craig Horne, Matt Bramald pounced on the hesitation and kicked ahead to score in the ninth minute.

Four minutes later Rovers took the lead, a lead they would never surrender, when Rooney combined with stand-off partner Andy Bastow to send Micky Clarkson crashing over.

It got worse for the Cougars when Rooney junked through a static defence, drew the cover to send prop Stuart Dickens in for the try. This time Rooney converted and suddenly Rovers led 14-6.

They got a fourth try almost from the restart, Bastow setting up Richard Chapman for his try and Rooney converting.

Keighley tried hard to get back into the game, Nathan Antonik, Paul Harrison and Ramshaw all going close before James Rushforth looked to be in, only to be tackled into touch in the corner.

They finally found a gap when Craig Robinson put Mick Slicker through. He saw Ramshaw inside and the Cougar skipper spun on the line to squeeze in, Wood converting.

The 20-12 deficit should have been taken into the changing room but yet another lapse in concentration allowed Rooney the space to jink his way over to make it 24-12 at the break.

In the second half the Cougars at least started to get their act together. They allowed Rovers only one further try, and that was a bit unlucky. Rooney had already extended the Rovers' lead with a penalty, then came a real body blow. Michael Rhodes scooped up a Ramshaw grubber kick on his own line, raced 50 metres downfield and found Micky Clarkson who was excellently tackled by the covering Horne.

But from the play-the-ball Rovers worked it quickly to Jamie Stokes who raced in from 40 metres, Rooney converting to make it 32-12.

Paul Owen added a bit of sparkle to a static Cougar attack, and the re-shuffled side discovered some direction. Owen raced in off Wood with 17 minutes left but instead of piling on the pressure Cougars relaxed and another silly penalty allowed Rooney to complete the Rovers' scoring.

Slicker impressed all afternoon, putting in the biggest defensive stint and creating Keighley's fourth and final try when he collected Robinson's high kick and sending Antonik over with five minutes left. Slicker looked to be in again after collecting a Robinson chip kick, only to be pulled back after a dubious knock-on call from referee Nick Oddy.

It would have been little consolation for the Cougars. This was a grim performance in many respects, and Karl Harrison made it blatantly clear that heads will roll.

Featherstone Rovers: Rhodes; Stokes (Langley 59), Law, Bramald, Thompson; Bastow, Rooney; Clarkson (Lowe 77), Heptinstall (Chapman 21), David (Dickens 6, David 38, Dickens 50), Evans, Lowe (Heptinstall 65), Lambert.

Cougars: R Smith; Horne (Wood 75), Rushforth, K Smith (Owen 45), Lee; Wood (Robinson 70), Robinson (Pickles 62), Hall (Stephenson 55), Antonik, Boothroyd, Harrison, Stephenson (Slicker 24), Ramshaw.

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