By STEVE MASCORD
HULL KR coach Willie Peters has acknowledged neutral observers believe his League Leaders Shield winners are going into the play-offs with “no momentum”.
Fullback Arthur Mourgue stopped Sewell Group Craven Park feeling like a morgue when he scored a slashing 88-metre try in the 69th minute, his conversion putting the Robins in front for the final time.
Halfback Tyrone May then gave home fans precisely four minutes to celebrate the club’s first League Leaders Shield before the fulltime siren when he crossed from close range with a stuttering change of direction. Hull KR 28, Warrington 20.
“If people are looking that we don’t have momentum going in – that’s fine,” said Peters, whose side lost two of their last five regular season games after dropping only three others this year.
“I’m comfortable. Semi-finals are a new ballgame. I’ve seen teams that are flying in the back end – you’ve seen it over in the NRL – and they’re out in straight sets.
“On the flip side, some teams might not perform how they want to perform but it’s a brand new ball game.
“I’m comfortable about where we sit at the moment because after 27 rounds we sit on top.
“To win like that going into a semi is not a bad thing … if you win by 40, what are you going to achieve?
“I think if you look over the course of the season, we’ve won in different types of ways. That gives me confidence going into a semi-final – that we can win tonight, we can win like we did in the Challenge Cup.
“St Helens a few weeks ago, I was really happy with the performance but we only just won on the scoreboard but then we’ve won where we’ve beaten teams by a large number.
“Tonight was a way that we may have to find in two weeks’ time.
“Once they got ahead, it was always going to be a test of our character and our spine needed to step up.
“The spine stepped up. They need to step up in a fortnight. You look at all the big games, the spine players … look at the grand final last year: one play, Bevan French, try.
“Tonight, Tyrone May, that was the difference.”
Peters admitted he went down to the sideline because he sensed the tension in the crowd as Hull KR stared down the barrel of a loss which would have left them hoping Wigan did not defeat Leeds by too much the following evening.
“They found a voice where they did get behind us,” he said of the big crowd, “there was a moment where they probably did get quiet.”
And despite the club comparing the League Leaders Shield to past Championships in social media posts at fulltime, Peters said: “It’s not the major trophy.
“The major trophies are probably Wembley and winning the Super League.
“Wembley, that was important to us. That’s not to say this is not … three weeks’s time, that’s the big one.”
HULL KR 28 (May 2 Booth 2 Mourge tries Martin 4 goals) bt WARRINGTON 20 (Thewlis 2 Stone Holroyd tries Sneyd 2 goals) at Sewell Group Craven Park.
Teams:
ROBINS: Arthur Mourgue; Tom Davies, Peta Hiku, Oliver Gildart, Noah Booth; Mikey Lewis, Tyrone May; Sauaso Sue, Jez Litten, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Dean Hadley, James Batchelor, Eliot Minchella. Res: Sam Luckley, Jai Whitbread, Rhyse Martin, Jack Broadbent. 18th man: Kelepi Tanginoa.
WARRINGTON: Cai Taylor-Wray; Josh Thewlis, Toby King, Matt Dufty, Jake Thewlis; Ewan Irwin, Marc Sneyd; Joe Philbin, Danny Walker, Luke Thomas, Sam Stone, Adam Holroyd, Ryan Matterson. Res: Sam Powell, Lucas Green, Thomas McKinney, Max Wood. 18th man; Ben Hartill.
Referee: Aaron Moore.