Featherstone skipper Spears expects Championship standards to rise

Featherstone Rovers captain Tim Spears is approaching the new season with a positive attitude, and he expects a tough challenge in the Championship.

The restructuring of the league pyramid is something that he has embraced, and, with promotion and relegation on the line, he is anticipating a consistently higher standard of rugby.

“I think the standard of the Championship will go up significantly as the stakes increase,” he said.

“Ultimately there is that chance at the end of the year to knock some of the Super League boys off and earn promotion.

“This has got to be everyone’s who are associated with the club and if you’re not on that sort of tangent then you shouldn’t be at this club.”

Rovers have endured a tough series of preseason friendlies, suffering defeats by Castleford, Wakefield and Batley.

They play York City Knights in their next game, at Pontefract RUFC on Sunday, and Spears is hoping for an improved display.

“It’s just generally been a really tough good preseason to be honest,” he added.

“Obviously the friendlies haven’t quite gone our way which has been disappointing, particularly the last one at Batley.

“But it’s given us some things to look at and to work on which we will do and we are all just looking forward to the big kick off now against Hunslet Hawks in February.

“I would like us to put on a really tough hardworking complete performance and keep their points to a minimum and score some good tries with the ball in hand a lot more.”