The more cynical felt had they attempted to do so they would have missed. Such was the catalogue of errors by Hornets that many of the wounds were self inflicted.

He said: "I have my little girl’s seventh birthday party in May and I am looking for children’s entertainers at the moment. And there are one or two who spring to mind after that performance, one or two who will spring to mind when I book that.

McGovern, who is a prolific goal-kicker, will bring lots of experience to John Stankevitch’s young squad.

Mr Kettleton was born and raised in Whitworth, the son of a well-known local painter and decorator.

While this was no disgrace for the underdogs, it was disappointing, for it was a game Hornets could have won.

While the French champions were firm favourites to win the match, the home team squandered an opportunity to pull off a shock win.

And tomorrow, Hornets will strive to win through to the fourth round, which sees the Super League clubs in the hat and offers the prospect of a money-spinning tie.

Victory would see them into the draw for the next round alongside clubs from the Super League, which in turn would give them the opportunity of a money-spinning tie against the big boys.

With man of the match Steve Roper pulling the strings from scrum half, the hosts ran in 11 tremendous tries on the back of some scintillating rugby.

And, despite a topsy-turvy Northern Rail Cup competition, Hornets’ skipper Phil Wood believes there are better things to come from his team.

While Hornets’ build up to the season has been a challenging one, with abysmal weather, postponements and a difficult Northern Rail Cup campaign, head coach John Stankevitch is accentuating the positives.

They always faced a mountainous task against Championship outfit Featherstone who were desperate to bounce back from a 36-6 drubbing at Leigh Centurions in their previous match.

The display was a big improvement on Sunday’s 48-6 loss to Dewsbury Rams, but, once again many of their wounds were self inflicted.

Once again his players gave a spirited performance but were hampered by individual errors and their inability to stick to the gameplan for the full 80 minutes.

They conceded nine tries in the process and with York City Knights the visitors to Spotland tonight, Hornets’ coach John Stankevitch didn’t pull any punches in his assessment of the team’s poor showing.