Hull KR beat Saints to reach Grand Final

Play-off semi-final of Betfred Super League

Hull KR (12) 20

Goals: Mourgue 2 Tries: Lewis, Burgess, and Gildart

St. Helens (0) 12

Goals: Lomax 2 tries: Cross and Robertson

With a victory over St. Helens in the Super League play-off semi-final, Oliver Gildart’s two second-half goals kept Hull KR on course for the treble.

With a strong opening performance in the first half and a rematch of last year’s Grand Final against Wigan Warriors on Saturday (18:00 BST), the Robins fought back to defeat the Saints in the second half.

As Rovers made the most of having Storm Amy at their backs in the opening 40 minutes, Mikey Lewis opened the scoring and Gildart brilliantly placed Joe Burgess.

After the Saints broke, Deon Cross responded with a second try for the Saints, but a late Harry Robertson try prevented them from moving to Old Trafford.

Both teams had excellent form before the game at Craven Park, with Rovers uncharacteristically losing two of their previous five games.

Saints gave themselves a break last week with their frantic, brilliant late victory over Leeds Rhinos, despite taking 16 days off since their last game.

A Robins team slammed into their own final third as a result of Paul Wellens’ side colliding with them.

The home side were brutal as Arthur Mourgue kicked the resultant penalty before Lewis swooped over for his 20th Super League try of the year after Saints cracked and Jack Welsby was sin-binned for grabbing a few of Jez Litten’s shirt as he kicked it.

After Saints threatened to play a game of it, Gildart then scored two of his own, pumping out a pass when he was tackled short of the line to give Burgess an easy finish.

After the break, Saints found that the relentless Robins and the strong wind in their faces were impossible to overcome.

When Saints ran it on the final tackle, Cross threw a dummy that sent Mourgue flying over, with Jonny Lomax’s conversion putting them one score ahead of the Robins.

Wellens’ team appeared to be in the lead, but they were perhaps too pumped up, allowing the opposition to concede territory three times in a row and restore their morale.

When Lewis, who had a better kick than St. Helens had done, lobbed one up for Burgess to knock back into his hands, Gildart was ready for a quick try and latched onto a Lewis pass for his second try eight minutes later.

Willie Peters, the coach of Hull KR, told BBC TV:

“The second half wasn’t pretty,” he said. I was really pleased with how we suffocated the opposition in the first half.

The players deserve it, and we’re looking forward to the week ahead. I’m anxiously awaiting.

You always get your best learning when you lose, he said. “We’ve lost both in the Challenge Cup and Grand Final.”

We’ve learned a lot, but “on-field it will come down to moments,” he says.

“We have a chance to pursue the treble, and we’re not going to shy away from it. We’re going to pursue it and lean toward that.” A champion side will face a formidable challenge.

Pail Wellens, the coach of St. Helens, told BBC TV:

“We’re incredibly disappointed that we lost a significant game, but we’re also very disappointed that the opposition won the game.”

They had a real stranglehold on us for the first 40 minutes, and they continued to hold on, and at the start of the second half, they had a stranglehold on us, which we eventually let go, which pretty much sums up the game.

“A lot of the things we discussed at half-time were actually put into practice, but the lads would then drop a penalty or kick the ball off the floor.”

Luckley, Whitbread, Martin, and Broadbent are the exchanges.

Sailor, Bennison, Robertson, Whitley, Cross, Welsby, Lomax, Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Sironen, Wright, Knowles, are the other names for St. Helens.

Mbye, Bell, Delaney, and Stephens exchange.