An excellent defensive display helped KR leave the DW with the two points.

Hull Kingston Rovers left the DW Stadium with the two points on Friday night, following an 18-8 victory over the Wigan Warriors.  A great start to the season got even better for Tony Smith’s side with their sixth win of the season.

Both teams went into the game in contrasting form. Wigan were looking to right the wrongs of their 48-0 away loss to the Catalan Dragons last time out. Whereas the Robins handsomely beat Salford Red Devil’s at Craven Park 40-4.

The opening half an hour was controlled by Adrian Lam’s side. Unforced errors by KR handed Wigan great field position, but on numerous occasions, they were unable to take advantage, due to Rovers superb goal line defence. With the game entering the closing stages of the first half KR saw George King sent to the sin bin after referee Robert Hicks had given consecutive penalties against the Robins.

Having already suffered repeat sets on their own line and now with a man in the sin bin. Rovers were forced to step up again, and that they did. 23 tackles later, Hull got their hands back on the ball with the scores still locked at 0-0. With just two minutes remaining in the first period and still with a man down. Rovers were expected to take the five tackles and kick the ball into touch.

But no! Not this Rovers side.  A barnstorming run from Albert Vete drove Hull downfield, and on the last tackle, the ball was swept from left to right which saw Adam Quinlan find Ben Crooks with the miss-out pass and the winger made no mistake in the corner. Crooks converted his own try to send the visitors in at the break 6-0 to the good.

A response from the Warriors was expected at the start of the second half but it was KR who had the majority of possession. They extended their lead on the hour mark through Ryan Hall. A cross-field kick from Mikey Lewis found Hall who rose highest to claim and touchdown.

Wigan rallied and got themselves back into the game thanks to two tries from the returning Oliver Gildart, but it wasn’t enough for Wigan as Rovers sealed the win with an Adam Quinlan try. Lewis found the full-back with a kick towards the posts and Quinlan was on hand to pick up and score, to secure a massive win for the Robins.

In his post-match press conference, Tony Smith praised his side’s defence” To keep them to nil at half time was great, they had 38 tackles in our quarter, and 23 tackles straight on our line. That takes some courage. The character, determination and the positional play shown was outstanding”.

The games don’t get any easier for Hull KR with St Helens up next at Craven Park, a game they will go into full of confidence with six wins out of 10 so far this season. A team that were one of the favourites to get relegated this season.

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