Liam FINN [
Player Stats]
+ Submit additional information or a correction to this player 
Mon April 16, 2012
by RFL
Source: www.therfl.co.ukLeading Championship club Featherstone pulled off a remarkable Carnegie Challenge Cup upset with a tense fourth-round 23-16 victory over Super League neighbours Castleford.
Castleford, who reached last year's semi-finals, never recovered from the shock of conceding three tries in an eight-minute spell as they were beaten by part-time opponents for the second time in three years.
Featherstone, who conceded 60 points at home to Sheffield Eagles just seven days earlier, produced a superb performance to spark a pitch invasion and rekindle memories of their glory days.
Alan Agar, who coached Rovers to the last of their three Cup triumphs at Wembley in 1983, was among the 4,165 crowd at the Bigfellas Stadium to witness a memorable victory by the underdogs amid a wonderful atmosphere.
Castleford, who lost to Barrow in the fourth round two years ago, made the perfect start but were quickly swamped by the enthusiasm of Daryl Powell's part-time outfit.
Yet an early touchline run by Cas winger Nick Youngquest and a midfield break from Jonathan Walker sent out the danger signals for the home side and it was all too predictable when Castleford opened the scoring on four minutes.
A trademark run by Rangi Chase set up the position for lively hooker Daryl Clark to force his way over from dummy half and Kirk Dixon added the goal to make it 6-0.
Rovers initially needed a stroke of good fortune to get a foothold in the game.
That came when Castleford's Brett Ferres lost possession on the Rovers 20-metre line and quick thinking by stand-off Kyle Briggs got winger Tangi Ropati away on an 80-metre sprint down the slope for his side's first try.
The Super League outfit were reduced to 12 men on 13 minutes when Clark held down Featherstone loose forward Jon Hepworth after he had threatened the Castleford line and Rovers took full advantage with two tries in his absence.
A weaving run by former Castleford winger Tom Saxton pulled the Tigers defence out of position and Briggs fended off the attempted tackle of Ferres to touch down.
Castleford were still reeling from the shock when Rovers full-back Ian Hardman took a return pass from centre Greg Worthington to score a third try and it got even better for the Championship team when Worthington took Hepworth's pass to go over for a fourth on the half-hour mark.
The Tigers were clearly rocking at 20-6 down but they grabbed themselves a lifeline five minutes before the break when an offload from prop Craig Huby, returning from a 12-month injury lay-off, created the space for Clark to set up a try for winger Josh Griffin.
The visitors suffered blows early in the second half when full-back Richard Owen and centre Dixon both hobbled from the field and they had a let-off when Saxton was denied a try for putting a foot in touch.
However, with Chase and Clark a constant threat, Castleford began to show their class down the slope and it took some tremendous rearguard defence to keep them out.
Ferres was a fingertip away from touching down Chase's grubber kick but the pressure finally told on 67 minutes when Youngquest gathered Chase's long pass to squeeze over at the corner.
Castleford captain Danny Orr took over the goalkicking and landed the touchline conversion to cut the deficit to six points but their hopes were finally dashed seven minutes from the end when Liam Finn put over a drop to add to his three goals.
Featherstone Rovers 23
T: Tangi Ropati, Kyle Briggs, Ian Hardman, Greg Worthington
G: Liam Finn 3
DG: Liam Finn
Castleford Tigers 16
T: Daryl Clark, Josh Griffin, Nick Youngquest
G: Kirk Dixon, Danny Orr
Sat October 9, 2010
Ireland coach Andy Kelly has named a highly experienced team to take on France in Avignon.
Three players who took part in the Championship playoff finals have been named in the starting thirteen along with five super league players.
Scott Grix will start at standoff and will be partnered by this year's Championship player of the year, Liam Finn who will take up his place at scrum half.
Harlequins back Jamie O'Callaghan will make his debut when he starts in the centre along with Warrington Wolves Simon Grix.
This will be the first time the Grix brothers will play together since they signed professional terms.
Championship 1 grand finalists Oldham will have three men in the match day 17 with John Gillam, Wayne Kerr and Matt Ashe all pulling on the green shirt.
Speaking at last night's press conference, Kelly praised the efforts of his squad leading up to this vital fixture "The squad have worked extremely hard to come together as a team and although we have had some withdrawals for various reasons I still feel extremely positive about the teams capability to represent Ireland in a passionate competitive way."
Kelly will hope his charges can get their campaign off to the perfect start against a strong French side in Avignon.
Ireland Team:
1 Greg McNally
2 Tim Bergin
3 Simon Grix
4 Jamie O'Callaghan
5 John Gillam
6 Scott Grix
7 Liam Finn
8 Michael Hayley
9 Bob Beswick
10 Bret McDermott
11 Sean Hesketh
12 Luke Ambler
13 Matthew Fox
Interchange
14 Matt Ashe
15 Wayne Kerr
16 Brendan Guilfoyle
17 Joseph Taylor
======================================================================================================
 2008 World Cup
Ireland
3 games; 1 tries, 4 points.
[View] Pool C [27 Oct 08] L 20-22 v Tonga. [BE]
[View] Pool C [05 Nov 08] W 34-16 v Samoa. [HB] 4 Pts; 1t
[View] Qualifying Final [10 Nov 08] L 14-30 v Fiji. [HB]
======================================================================================================
|
Finn, Liam
rleague UK Edition
rleague RSS Feed