Hull KR thrash Saints to go level on points at top

Betfred Super League

Hull KR (16) 40

Tries: May, Lewis, Broadbent, Hiku, Litten, Hadley, Hall Goals: Lewis (6)

St Helens (14) 20

Tries: Welsby, Blake, Hurrell (2) Goals: Percival (2)

Hull KR underlined their Super League title credentials by dominating St Helens to move level on points with six teams at the top of the table.

A week after beating reigning champions Wigan, the Robins ran in seven tries against the meanest defence in the competition.

Scrum-half Mikey Lewis scored a try, orchestrated three others and kicked superbly to cap a marvellous team effort from Hull KR, who join Saints among half a dozen sides tied on 14 points.

Konrad Hurrell scored two tries for the visitors, who had led in the first half and had previously conceded only 70 points from nine games.

This campaign is starting to look like a breakthrough one for Rovers, who are also in the Challenge Cup semi-finals, where they meet Wigan in a fortnight.

They were irresistible at times against Saints, with the mercurial Lewis running the show, while Dean Hadley was immense up front and Kelepi Tanginoa a constant threat.

Jack Broadbent scored on his Hull KR debut after being called up five minutes before kick-off

Fairytale debut

Lewis began as he would go on, dinking a delightful kick over the define for Tyrone May to catch on the full and score beneath the posts, but Saints full-back Jack Welsby squeezed between two tacklers to level.

It was nip-and-tuck in the first half, as Lewis raced over following the sin-binning of Morgan Knowles for head contact, but Waqa Blake ran onto an arrowed pass from Jonny Lomax to make it 12-10.

Hurrell barged over to put Saints ahead for the first and only time, but Jack Broadbent had a fairytale start to life at Hull KR, just 11 days after signing on a loan with a view to a permanent move.

He was named as 18th man but when Oliver Gildart limped off in the warm-up, he was called into the team five minutes before kick-off, and soon celebrated his first try, courtesy of some magic from Lewis and Tanginoa to put rthe hosts 16-14 up at half-time.

Rovers rammed home their advantage with two tries in four minutes early in the second half, from Peta Hiku and Jez Litten before Hurrell’s second score gave Saints a glimmer of hope of a revival.

The Robins were in no mood to relent and after Hadley had powered over to make the win safe, Ryan Hall scored with the last action to go within one try of Danny Maguire’s Super League record.

Hull KR coach Willie Peters told BBC Radio Humberside:

“The only way to beat teams like St Helens is a team performance. In the first half we gave them energy by scoring a try, then making an error and not defending our try-line.

“We did that twice, which is nowhere near good enough against teams like St Helens. If we had done that in the second half we would have been on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

“There was a lot of adversity in that game. Before the kick-off we lost Olly Gildart with a knee issue and Jack Broadbent came in, who has only been at the club a couple of weeks, and it was a seamless transition.

“Then we lost James Batchelor with an eye issue and Elliot Minchella with a groin issue. When you’re playing against the top teams in the competition you will always come out bruised and battered.”

St Helens coach Paul Wellens told BBC Radio Merseyside:

“I told the team at half-time there were a few things around our defensive intent that we needed to tidy up, and that if they could do that there would be more points in the game for us.

“Ultimately we failed to do that. If anything, it got worse.The most disappointing aspect of the performance was that there was a defensive fragility there which is not usually associated with this group.

“I was pleased with some of the things we did with ball in hand. In creative opportunities we probably left 10 to 12 points out there.

“Jack Welsby was outstanding, looked dangerous every time he had hands on the ball and didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.”

Hull KR: Evalds, Burgess, Hiku, Broadbent, Hall, May, Lewis, Sue, Litten, Whitbread, Hadley, James Batchelor, Minchella

Interchanges: Parcell, Luckley, Storton, Tanginoa

St Helens: Welsby, Ritson, Hurrell, Percival, Blake, Lomax, Dodd, Mata'utia, Mbye, Lees, Whitley, Joe Batchelor, Knowles

Interchanges: Clark, Bell, Sironen, Delaney

Sin bin: Knowles (16)

Referee: Chris Kendall.