Rovers' Powell raring to go

Featherstone Rovers coach Daryl Powell cannot contain his excitement ahead of Sunday's match with Leigh Centurions and the start of the new Championship season.

Rovers' pre-season preparations have included a four-day warm weather training camp in Alicante.

Powell said: "It's an ideal opening encounter. You're not limping into the season; you're going crash, bang, wallop straight into it. Hopefully we'll go well."

Leigh coach Paul Rowley will assess the fitness of four unnamed members of his squad before finalising his team for the trip to West Yorkshire.

Rowley said: "Featherstone will be one of the pace-setters again. Liam Finn is a massive influence for them and he gets better with age."

However, Rowley is tipping new signings Martin Aspinwall and Sean Penkywicz to make big impacts for the Centurions.

He said: "You know what you're going to get from Martin - he's a strong guy, he gives 100 per cent and he gets through a lot of work.

"Penky has been one of the league's top performers for years. He's been at one club for eight years, so it'll take a bit of time for our players to adjust to him, but he's destructive on his day and that's why we've brought him in."