Covid-19 has made Championship season 'incredibly tough' for clubs, admits Featherstone Rovers head coach James Webster

Featherstone Rovers head coach James Webster admits it has been “unbelievably tough” to navigate the 2021 campaign amidst the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic but feels his time in the coaching staff at Leeds Rhinos last season better prepared him to deal with it.
James Webster. Picture: Dec Hayes Photography.James Webster. Picture: Dec Hayes Photography.
James Webster. Picture: Dec Hayes Photography.

Numerous Championship clubs have suffered with Covid-related disruption, with positive cases of the virus almost cancelling Rovers’ trip to Wembley last month.

On Sunday, Webster guided his Featherstone side to an emphatic win over Dewsbury Rams. The Rams returned a number of positive Covid-19 tests in the lead up to the game which left the fixture in doubt, however, they proceeded to play with a severely-weakened side.

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Webster opted to run with a larger squad this season and feels his time with Leeds last year helped him prepare for the disruption caused by Covid.

“I was really lucky that I got a taste of it last year, I was able to see how Covid could really rip teams apart,” he said.

“We went with a really big squad this year to try and compensate for that. We had no issues this week.

"With us having six or seven people out, we are able to deal with that but some clubs such as Dewsbury aren’t able to.

“That is just the way the competition is at the minute.”