Kenny-Dowall hat-trick fires Hull KR to victory against Wigan Warriors

Hull KR captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall scored a hat-trick as his side swept aside Wigan Warriors 27-18 at Craven Park.

It was a frantic start to the game with Hull KR hitting the front inside four minutes. After a break from Lachlan Coote, Jordan Abdull put a kick into the corner on the last that was caught by Shaun Kenny-Dowall above his head. The ball was then passed out to Ryan Hall who dived over in the corner.

Wigan quickly hit back scoring three tries inside 13 minutes thanks to Liam Marshall, Jai Field and Kai Pearce-Paul

Harry Smith chipped the ball into the corner on the ninth minute mark for Liam Marshall before a Cade Cust bomb spilled by Lachlan Coote found its way to Jai Field who stretched out to score in the corner.

The Warriors third try came after repeated scrums forced Hull KR to defend back to back sets. Cust once again was the provider as he nudged through a pin point grubber kick for Kai Pearce Paul to dive on and score.

Just as it looked like WIgan could run away with the game a penalty and two set restarts gave the Robins prime field position inside the Wigan 20m zone. They spread the ball wide to Kenny-Dowall who got on the outside of his opposite man to crash over and score. 

This brought scores level thanks to the accurate boot of Lachlan Coote who was able to convert both his teams scores whereas Harry Smith missed all three of his conversion attempts. Then on the stroke of halftime Jordan Abdull slotted a drop goal from in front of the posts that meant the home side headed into the break leading 13-12.

It was almost a perfect start to the second half for Hull KR as Bevan French spilled a chip to the corner but it was deemed that he was tackled in the air, The home side would score seven minutes later when Kane Linnett barged over after Dean Hadley was brought down metres short. Coote then extended Hull KR’s lead to 19-12 when he kicked a penalty from the right of the sticks.

Things got worse for the away side as Morgan Smithies was sent to the sin bin just before the hour mark for a late shoulder charge on Mikey Lewis. The Robins made use of the man advantage as Kenny-Dowall crossed for his second try of the game. After continued pressure on the Wigan line the ball was spread wide to Kenny-Dowall on the wing who dived over in the corner.

With Smithies back on the field Wigan were able to hit back with ten minutes to go. A lovely cut out pass found Jake Wardle who released Liam Marshall. He then passed the ball back inside to Wardle who raced away for a debut try. The Warriors almost had two in a row but Marshall couldn’t bring down a floated pass from above his head.

Just as Wigan looked to be on the front foot Shaun Kenny-Dowall dealt the killer blow. After Jai Field had the ball stolen by a one on one strip the ball was once again spread wide where Kenny-Dowall was found in acres of space to stroll over and complete his hattrick.

Speaking about the the belief that a win against a team like Wigan can bring, Hul KR head coach Willie Peters said: “I’m so pleased for the players. The big thing for our club is that a lack of belief that we can really go somewhere has held us back over the last few years.

“We need to win more games like that so we can start building more belief. Once you do that and the evidence is there and you can start playing in the big games at the end of the year. I’m not going to get carried away but I am certainly going to praise the players.”

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