At the start of round twenty of Super League 2024 the fixture between Warrington Wolves and Hull Kingston Rovers was an encounter between the top two in the table, but a win last night for the Wigan Warriors saw them jump to the top of the pile with Warrington needing a win of any description to return to the top themselves, KR knowing that an eleven point or more win would see them sitting pretty.
The bookies fancied a home win, especially with their major signing coup John Bateman making his debut from the bench after being released on loan by Wests Tigers until the end of the season.
That debut would likely spur the visitors who are having a sensational season so far in 2024 as they look for their first ever Grand Final appearance come the end of the season.
It was a high octane start from the Robins and they celebrated with a try after six minutes as Sauaso Sue took a miss-out pass from Matt Parcell a couple of metres from the line to crash over by the left upright. Mikey Lewis added the conversion for a 6-0 lead.
After Ryan Hall had a try turned down for a knock-on, Tyrone May grabbed the second for the visitors on eighteen when he jumped above the Wolves players to catch and ground a Lewis high kick. Lewis couldn’t add the extras but at 10-0 it was Hull KR who were looking like a champion side.
Against the tun of play it was the Wolves who looked to have put themselves back into the game on twenty-seven as Lewis spilled the ball in the tackle and it was collected by Thewlis who sprinted seventy metres downfield to score. But after repeated checks the video referee ruled that there was a knock-on in the tackle and the try was chalked off.
The Wolves started the second half on the front foot as they looked to get back in the game. On forty-eight minutes Matty Ashton skirted around the right-side KR defence off a Matt Dufty floated miss-out pass to score in the left corner. Josh Thewlis was wide with the conversion attempt leaving his side trailing by six.
Lewis picked up the scraps when his own high kick was knocked forwards by the Wolves defence and he collected the ball to ghost through four attempted tackles to smash the ball onto the whitewash. Jez Litten added the conversion for a twelve-point lead, Hull KR top of the live league table as the game hit the hour mark.
An attempted Lewis drop goal on seventy-five hit a Wolves hand and won a goal line drop out and on the second play Peta Hiku ran the angle and forced the ball to ground for the fourth Robins try of the night to put the result beyond any doubt. Litten added the conversion for an eighteen-point victory.
This was a top-class performance from a Hull KR side who continue to astound the critics and persist in not following the rule book. They were expansive in attack and ruthless in defence and closed down a Warrington side who had been flying high in recent weeks and sweeping aside all challengers. The rest of the league now looks up to see Hull KR at the top of the table, and you’d have been given pretty long odds on that at the start of the season.
Warrington Wolves: Dufty, Thewlis (0/1 G), Tai, Lindop, Ashton (T), Williams, Drinkwater, Yates, Powell, Vaughan, Nicholson, Holroyd, Currie. Subs: Musgrove, Crowther, Walker, Bateman. 18th Man: Wood.
Hull KR: Evalds, Burgess, Hiku (T), Gildart, Hall, May (T), Lewis (T, 1/2 G), Sue (T), Parcell, Whitbread, Hadley, Batchelor, Minchella. Subs: Litten (2/2 G), Luckley, Tanginoa, Brown. 18th Man: King.
Half-Time: 0-10.
Full-Time: 4-22.
Score Progression: 0-4, 0-6, 0-10 : HT: 4-10, 4-14, 4-16, 4-20, 4-22 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: KR.
