Nick Pinkney
Ex-Hull KR captain on BBC Radio Humberside

Hull KR have been battering the Warrington defence for maybe 10 minutes now and it's just given.

They've had to break, they were on their feet.

Excellent from James Batchelor but great play from Hull KR all round.

Hull KR win a penalty after Tyrone May is hit while chasing a high ball and Warrington concede a set of six about 15 metres from the line.

Can they make it count?

Such is the nature of this game, if you'd have asked me not even five minutes ago I'd have said that Warrington were just about in the ascendancy.

Now? Hull KR are well in control, but Warrington are proving a tough nut to crack and not even the talismanic Mikey Lewis can make the breakthrough to get them on the board.

Lewis, if you're keeping count, has scored 19 tries this term and is third in the Super League try-scoring charts.

James Gordon
BBC Radio Merseyside Sport

Every hero needs a good partner.

If Mikey Lewis is Batman then Tyrone May is Robin.

I like how he pops up either side of the field trying to influence the play.

Image source, SW Pix

10 minutes gone and 10 minutes of some of the most frantic rugby league I've seen. It is relentless the pace at which both sides are going at each other.

Hull KR advance this time with Niall Evalds and Peta Hiku linking up with Tyrone May.

Mikey Lewis ends up sending a kick to the corner on the turnover towards Ryan Hall but Warrington just about bat the ball away before he can get onto it.

This is frantic and things are happening quicker than I can type!

At the other end, Hull KR almost force a quickfire try as Warrington are forced into some fine defence to deny Dean Hadley on the line.

Soon after the Robins dispatch a wayward ball out wide, thwarting another attack.

Nick Pinkney
Ex-Hull KR captain on BBC Radio Humberside

Rovers are really putting the pressure on Warrington.

Warrington were going nowhere, Rovers were pinning them back.

Great involvement from Matty Ashton to get Warrington out of danger there.

Warrington try a pre-planned move with Josh Drinkwater putting a kick in to goal for one of his team-mates to chase.

But Hull KR are wise to it and they clear the danger. This comes after a smart move from Matty Ashton to get them out of trouble at the other end.

We have the first error of the evening.

Hull KR's Man of Steel nominee Mikey Lewis kicks the ball out on the full from deep inside his own half and jeers go up from the travelling Warrington supporters.

Not good.

There's a bit of a battle over territory in these opening few minutes.

Plenty of changeovers as both sides look to force the other into a valuable mistake.

No sooner do Hull KR peg Warrington back in their own 10 do the Wire work them back up the other end. Frantic.

There is a thunderous atmosphere at Craven Park with the home faithful belting out a rendition of Erasure's A Little Respect.

It is incredible the growth Hull KR have had in just the past couple of seasons alone.

This is sure to be some semi-final with neither the hosts or Warrington giving much away in the opening stages.

We are under way under the lights at Sewell Group Craven Park and the smoke is beginning to dissipate after some pyrotechnics on-pitch when the players walked out the tunnel.

Hull KR will be well rested having earned a bye week last week after they beat Warrington to second place in the Super League table.

But will they beat them over 80 minutes this evening to reach their first Super League Grand Final?

John Lawless
BBC Radio Merseyside rugby league commentator

I think what Sam Burgess has brought to Warrington is the sort of hard nosed culture that they couldn't seem to manage previously.

What Sam brings - because of his stature and the fact that he's only recently retired as a player - all the other players can relate to him.

You can't stress how big a name he was in Rugby League.

He's got that stature and he's able to command and create a culture that has been Warrington's downfall for a number of years.

No matter who coached them they couldn't past that culture that it was all a bit soft, a little bit easy, it was all, in relative terms, a bit luxurious.

Nick Pinkney
Ex-Hull KR captain on BBC Radio Humberside

This Hull KR team wants to win silverware and if they don't get the job done tonight, they will be bitterly disappointed.

I think they are capable, I really do, but there's no doubts that it's going to be an incredible test tonight - but it should be.

They've got to come through that to achieve their goals.

Warrington make one change following last week's win over St Helens in their Super League play-off eliminator tie.

Jordy Crowther steps onto the bench for the visitors in place of Zane Musgrove, who is tonight's 18th man for the Wire.

Warrington: Dufty; Thewlis, Tai, King, Ashton; Williams, Drinkwater; Yates, Walker, Harrison, Bateman, Nicholson, Currie.

Interchanges: Powell, Crowther, Vaughan, Philbin.

Here's how Hull KR line up for tonight's play-off semi-final.

Oliver Gildart is not fit enough to take part, in a blow for the hosts. Jack Broadbent comes into the starting line-up.

Elliot Minchella serves the final game of a two-game ban with Dean Hadley playing at loose forward.

Hull KR: Evalds; Burgess, Hiku, Broadbent, Hall; May, Lewis; Sue, Parcell, Whitbread, Storton, Batchelor, Hadley.

Interchanges: Litten, Luckley, Tanginoa, Brown.

Image source, SWPix

Hull KR and Warrington Wolves are both represented in the nominations for this season's Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel award.

KR half-back Mikey Lewis helped his side to second in the table during a transformative season for the Robins.

Meanwhile Wire full-back Matt Dufty receives a nomination having helped his side to the Challenge Cup final as well as third spot in Super League.

The pair, joined by Salford's Marc Sneyd in making the shortlist for the award, will learn who has won during a ceremony in Leeds on Tuesday.

Image source, Rex Features

Warrington travel to Hull KR tonight knowing their opponents were a tough nut to crack during a transformative 2024 season under head coach Willie Peters.

The Robins lost just six times in the league this term and only two sides - Warrington and Catalans - beat them on their home ground, with Wire boss Sam Burgess masterminding the only win against KR at Craven Park inside 80 minutes.

"It's good that we've been over there and got the game on but it was different conditions and it was very heavy under foot, I remember that, as it had been raining for about a month beforehand," Burgess told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"The game was a bit quicker and both teams have sharpened up since then and ironed out a few creases."

Matt Newsum
BBC Sport rugby league reporter

Image source, SWPix

These are heady days for those on the east side of the city of Kingston-upon-Hull, thanks to Hull KR's rise as a rugby league force.

Just eight years ago, tears flowed in the Craven Park stands as Salford's Gareth O'Brien sank them to the Championship with a booming long-range golden-point drop-goal.

Even as recently as 2020, the club finished a Covid-punctuated season bottom of the table with only three wins from 17.

It is all the more impressive that in 2024, Rovers are 80 minutes from a first Super League Grand Final having secured a top two place and a home semi-final during a dazzling regular season campaign.

One of the architects of that turnaround has been head coach Willie Peters, who built on the foundations laid by predecessors Tim Sheens and Tony Smith to assemble a side capable of challenging for major honours.

You can read more about Hull KR's ascent here.