fevnut's musings 2024/#35: Dewsbury, Ben Reynolds' goal-kicking and Play-Off possibilities

 

Dewsbury

It was never going to be a dramatic game bearing in mind that Dewsbury were well bottom of the table and had already been consigned to relegation.

But there were three aspects of the match that were very worthy of note.

First of all, there was Ben Reynold’s goal-kicking saga (see below).

Second was a wonderful hat trick from Connor Wynne. His performances seem to get better and better and his defence has improved dramatically. It was Connor’s second hat trick for Fev, the first being against Halifax in May. It was also the first hat trick by a Fev player since Brad Day’s against Whitehaven in early July.

We said that there were three aspects of the match that were worthy of note and we have saved the best until last. What a joy it was to see Thomas Lacans take his place back in the team line-up after such a long lay-off. We didn’t expect much from him in the circumstances but he played like he had never been away. Great to see those wonderful side steps and his lightning acceleration. The try he scored just before half-time was beautiful.

But we have to remember we were playing against the bottom team in the league and, although it looked like a much improved performance, we have to wait to see if that can be maintained against a much stronger York outfit who will be much more clinical in taking advantage of any lapses in the Fev defence.

 

Play-Off Possibilities

It’s going to be a nervous Sunday coming up for fans of Fev, York, Sheffield and Widnes. Wakefield, Toulouse and Bradford have already secured 1st, 2nd and 3rd places respectively. That leaves the four teams to try and win a place in the play-offs. Three will make it and one has to lose out. A win for Fev, York or Sheffield will see them through and a win for Widnes would almost certainly see them qualify but there is still an unlikely scenario whereby Widnes win but still fail to qualify. For that to happen, Fev and York would have to draw and Sheffield either win or draw.

Fev: As we said, if Fev win we qualify. And a draw would most likely also see us through as long as Widnes don’t beat Barrow by 58 points. If we lose on Sunday we could only qualify if both Sheffield and Widnes also lose. That’s ridiculously unlikely as Sheffield are playing Dewsbury!

If we win, we could finish 4th but only if Sheffield lose to Dewsbury (haha!) or they win by less than thirteen points more than Fev’s win at York. That would give us a home tie in the Play-Offs against the 5th placed team which would most likely be Sheffield.

Play-Off Eliminators:
Bradford at Home to 6th placed team
4th placed team at home to 5th placed team

Ben Reynolds’ goal-kicking 

And lo, it came to pass that in the 39th minute of a match between the mighty Featherstone Rovers and the York Knights, a Featherstone man called Thomas Lacans did place the ball down on the ground to score a try. The ball was then passed to Ben Reynolds to kick it between the posts for his 42nd successful kick in a row for the Rovers.

But there is a curse on attempts to kick 42 in a row and with groans from the crowd the touch judges’ flags were not raised because, to everyone’s amazement, our Ben’s kick went wide.

To kick 41 goals in succession is a tremendous achievement but sadly it neither breaks nor equals any records. We had thought that it had equalled Liam Finn’s 2012 record of 41 in a row for Fev but after careful scrutiny we have discovered that Liam actually kicked 42 in a row for Rovers. After setting a new world record by taking his tally to 41 against Keighley, he failed to extend the world record because that weekend he missed his only kick whilst playing for Ireland. However, in his next match for Fev he kicked three goals but missed with his second attempt thus taking his figure for Fev to 42.

So why doesn’t Ben’s 41 in a row for Fev count as equalling that world record. It’s because, between the start of his run of successful kicks for Fev, and that missed conversion, he played several matches for Hull KR and Hull FC and during those he missed three attempts.

Below are the progressions for Both Ben and Liam and if you wonder what that entry in Liam’s chart of a game against Pia is doing there, it was an official match designated as being for the European Club Championship. At the time Fev were the Championship champions and Pia were the French Elite 1 Champions. Fev became the official European club champions – a title they still hold because it has never been played for since although there are rumours circulating that it is to be re-instated.

We referred earlier to the curse of the 42nd attempt. Since Liam set that World record, Jamie Ellis (2018), Rhyse Martin (2022) and Stefan Ratchford (2024) have matched it but all four of them failed with their next kick!