City of Hull set for biggest derby in years

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On Saturday, nothing else matters to so many in the city of Hull, as FC and KR battle for the first, and possibly only time this season at the MKM Stadium

It’s the first meeting of the cross-city rivals since last October when FC came out victorious at St Helens’ Totally Wicked Stadium, and the first meeting in Hull since last February, where the Black and Whites also claimed the bragging rights.

However, with the two sides only two places apart in the Super League table, this game, in particular, has raised the expectation and the hype surrounding the game to another level, and a win for one and defeat for another could see the rest of the season transpire in so many different ways.

Ahead of this Saturday’s game, the sides have been in contrasting form. FC have only won one of their previous five matches and that came on June 25th against Huddersfield Giants, whereas Rovers have won three out of their last five, and climbed above FC after the win at Leigh Centurions two weeks ago.

Despite being in poor form of late, the Black and Whites will be boosted by the news that Jake Connor, a few days after signing a two-year contract extension is back in Brett Hodgson’s 21-man squad. Jamie Shaul is also in contention to start his first game in 10 months, after sustaining a serious ACL injury at the end of last season. However, there are some notable absentees in Chris Satae and Mahe Fonua.

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In the period between last Friday’s defeat against league leaders Catalan and Saturday, the FC head coach has been speaking about how good the excitement in the city has been ahead of his first Hull derby;

“I was grabbing a coffee the other day and a couple of people started giving it to me shouting “Go the Robins” so I don’t know what they put in the coffee! I love the rivalry though, it’s brilliant.

“Until you’ve experienced a Hull derby for yourself, I don’t think you can know fully what to expect from the game. The atmosphere has been building all week, you’ve really been able to sense that at the training ground and around the city. Everyone is talking about it.

He was also mindful of the threat of the Robins under Tony Smith’s management.

 “They’ve been very good, and without some key players over the last few weeks too.

“Their second phase of attack and offloads can be dangerous, and they have some big boys who carry the ball strong too with the likes of Takairangi, Hall and Kenny-Dowall. Jez Litten and Matt Parcell can be quick out of dummy-half too. We’ll prepare and plan to deal with that and isolate individuals where we can.

“We have to slow the ruck down, win our contacts and stay consistent.

“I played under Tony Smith for a number of years and his side’s love to ask questions of defensive lines with that second phase.”

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As for Rovers, they are in search of a fourth win in six after beating Wigan Warriors impressively last Friday, as they look to continue to defy the odds and reach the play-offs.

There is only one change to their squad and it sees half-back Mikey Lewis return after missing the Wigan victory under concussion protocols. He replaces Ethan Ryan who will miss the remainder of the season after sustaining a wrist injury in last week’s game, which happened to be his only game in three and a half months since recovering from an injury on his other wrist. Shaun Kenny-Dowall said in the week that he was touch and go after a foot problem, but the Rovers captain has made Tony Smith’s 21-man squad.

Smith has called for his side to find a balance between the emotion of the occasion as well as producing a performance that he believes has to be better than last week’s victory.

“We have had to do a lot of homework this week because there is a various amount of players that are back available to them so we have to prepare for all sorts of equations.

“We’ve just got to focus on a good performance, hopefully, we can improve on last week. I liked what we did last week, the way they went about it and we’re trying to get better from that – we’ll have to be better this week.

“I think our opponents will pose some bigger questions to us and some bigger situations. It’s a good test for us.”

The Robins’ head coach has also discussed the excitement coursing through the supporters in the lead up to Saturday afternoon.

“People are enjoying watching us, I think that’s really important.

“We get a lot of comments that tell us I may not be a Rovers supporter, but I enjoy watching the team. That’s great and we’re really proud of that and we want to continue to be that team that people enjoy watching”.

“I’m loving that our support and our fans are enjoying it at the moment. I know there have been brief moments of enjoyment or years, few and far between, but that’s the difference.

It isn’t a case of turning up when we’re starting to go ok, they’ve been here the whole time. I really like that we’re able to give them something a bit more to cheer about, they deserve it”.

The Clive Sullivan Trophy will also be presented to the winners of the game, with news breaking that it is the only guaranteed derby of the season after the fixture at Hull College Craven Park was postponed.

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