Hull KR win derby to close on League Leaders’ Shield

Betfred Super League

Hull KR (4) 18

Tries: Davies, Davies, Litten, and Booth

Hull FC (0) 4

After defeating city rivals Hull FC in a fierce local derby, Hull KR are on the verge of winning the League Leaders’ Shield.

Rovers took a 14-point lead after Noah Booth, Jez Litten, and Jack Broadbent scored in Tom Davies’ 18-4 victory, despite Tom Briscoe’s late score giving the visitors some hope.

Rovers’ sixth successive derby victory placed them four points clear of Wigan, and it would take an unlikely combination of factors to place them at the top of the Super League after 27 games.

Second-placed Wigan would need to defeat Castleford and Leeds, as well as overturning a points difference that is currently 113 points in the direction of Hull KR, while Willie Peters’ side would need to lose both of their remaining games against Wakefield and Warrington.

A second trophy of the season is almost in their reach now that they have won the Challenge Cup for the first time since 1980 in June.

Booth’s try in the corner was the only point of the intense first half, but Hull KR could have remained in control at the break.

After a lengthy review by the video referee, Arthur Mourgue decided not to play Mikey Lewis’ length-of-the-field score for a knock-on while missing all three of his kicks at goal, including two presentable penalty chances.

The visitors could have immediately rejected Lewis’ effort, but Zak Hardaker was unable to quickly gather a sloppy kick a few yards from the try line.

When hooker Litten, who had earlier in the week, dived over from the dummy half underneath the posts, Hull KR immediately capitalized on Yusuf Aydin’s yellow card for a risky tackle shortly after the break.

Elliot Minchella, the Rovers’ home captain, collided with Lewis Martin’s head, only to have the latter make a late change of direction and a minor error before he saved the team from more severe punishment.

Willie Peters, the head coach of Hull KR, told BBC Radio Humberside:

“It was slack, but we obviously got the result, and we wanted to achieve that.”

We can improve on our last plays, but there is still room for improvement because of the yardage errors we made.

In the first 20 minutes, I enjoyed what we did. Even though we were only 4-of-four up, I enjoyed what we did in terms of field position and putting some pressure on, which we did with yardage errors.

The next game against Wakefield, who have a lot to play for and are a good team, is the most crucial because we know it [potentially]clinching the League Leaders’ Shield] is there.

“To go there and perform better than what we did today is the current motivation,” he said. We are aware that we must constantly improve.

John Cartwright, the head coach of Hull FC, told BBC Radio Humberside:

“Over the past eight to ten weeks, we have performed typical,” he said. Although we’ve had a few troops in crucial positions, they keep showing up.

We scored that try, and I only had a slight sense of momentum in the second half, which was abysmal. There were three forward passes, in my opinion.

Luckley, Tanginoa, Doro, and Leyland are exchanges.

L Kemp, Briscoe, Rapana, Litten, Martin, Cust, Sezer, Ashworth, Bourouh, Watts, Hardaker, Lane, Aydin, and others.

Fash, Gardiner, Laidlaw, and C Kemp are the exchanges.