Wigan Warriors 46 – 4 Hull KR
Hull KR arrived at the DW Stadium with major injury worries, head coach Danny Maguire currently has 14 players sat on the sidelines through injury. This showed on the pitch with Wigan running in three tries in the opening 10 minutes.
The first coming from mercurial winger Bevan French. A short side moved called by half back Harry Smith sent French scurrying down the wing, leaving Lachlan Coote on the floor as he crossed in the corner. Five minutes later the Warriors were in again. Off of the back of an error from Hull KR, a set piece move off the resulting scrum allowed Cade Cust to dazzle the KR defenders who released the ball to winger Liam Marshall to cross the line.
Wigan’s play quickly went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Channeling the spirit of the Harlem Globetrotters, fullback Jai Field threw an outrageous pass to Liam Marshall; who on a whim kicks back inside. After a rather fortuitous bounce, Mike Cooper gathers and crashes over the line for a try on his home debut.
It took Hull KR 13 minutes to finally have a good set in possession, however the home side were playing too quick for the depleted Rovers. On the 20 minute mark French crossed the line again. This time off of the back of a poor kick from Rovers gifting Wigan a seven tackle set, a Jai Field chip was missed by Lachlan Coote and the ensuing French pounces. 20-0 after 20 minutes looked ominous for the Hull Kingston Rovers.
Wigan’s dominance was shown in the stats as they had averaged 70% possession in the opening quarter. However Hull KR struck back on the half hour mark through Irish international Ethan Ryan. In a flash of inspiration, a 5th tackle play had seemingly broke down before the ball found itself in the hands of Rowan Milnes. A cross field kick to his former Bradford Bulls team mate allowed Ryan a simple finish in the corner.
Hull KR started to build some pressure on the Warriors as the first half came to a close but in the end in came to nothing as Wigan’s defence stood strong as they took a 20-4 lead into the sheds at half time.
The visitors started the second half with all guns blazing as in form winger Ethan Ryan made a break down the wing with his kick forward was collected comfortably by Jai Field. However, normal service was quickly resumed when Wigan ran in their fifth try. After KR piggy backed Wigan up the field with a cheap penalty, a Wigan shift to the right wing broke down. With the ball in Bevan French’s hands, the winger put a hopeful grubber kick through which – after a fortuitous back heel from Liam Farrell – somehow ended up in the hands of Sam Powell, who then handed the ball back to French. French then looped a pass to the left wing where Kai Pearce-Paul bundled over to put Wigan firmly back in the driving seat.
At this point Hull KR’s indiscipline began to start causing them problems. Two quick penalties had Wigan putting pressure on the Robins’ try line. Liam Marshall crossed for his second try of the night on 50 minutes. A set move made to look extremely simple sucked in the Rovers left edge defence leaving acres of room for Marshall to cross in the corner. With 30 minutes to go the game was all but over.
It had been a gutsy effort from this young Rovers team, they had lost Lachlan Coote to a HIA and Will Dagger to a serious looking ankle injury. However Wigan were not about to start taking it easy. With less than 20 minutes to go French got his hattrick; great ball movement once again created huge gaps on the edge for French to stroll over. That effort taking French to 24 tries this year, leading the Super League scoring charts.
As if the night had not been bad enough for Hull KR and their fans, Wigan began to rub salt in the wounds as the game entered the final moments. Two quick tries, one from prop Patrick Mago and Liam Marshall grabbed his hattrick after a seemingly nothing kick was missed by young Rovers fullback Phoenix Lualu-Tongagae.
With the clock winding down and the score at 46-6 you would think it could not have got any worse for Hull KR. Rovers’ injury woes continued as Charlie Cavanagh was carried off with a dislocated kneecap on his debut appearance, this left the Rovers to play out the final minutes with only 12 men and leaving Danny Maguire with a serious selection headache next week.
The young Robins showed a lot of heart in defeat tonight, I would argue that no fan could possibly fault the effort of their team. Wigan were just too strong on the night. Hull KR need to be careful going forward that the playoffs don’t slip out of their reach with the race for the Super League playoffs heating up.
S.W. Sports Journalist 