HULL KR coach Willie Peters has confirmed that Robins winger Joe Burgess was not selected for the game against Bradford Bulls on Saturday because he was suffering from a sickness that had apparently affected some other members of the squad earlier in the season, going right back to the game in Las Vegas at the beginning of March, when they were hammered 58-6 by Leeds.
Since then, they have strung together a series of victories and now sit in fifth place in Super League with a game in hand.
Burgess has scored ten tries in Super League so far this season but he was absent from Rovers’ 48-12 win over Bradford.
Some observers had assumed that Burgess was simply being rested, but Peters contradicted that view after the game to BBC Radio Humberside, revealing that Burgess has “not been too well”.
“A lot of us got a bit sick from Vegas and that hung around for three or four weeks but he’s got his now, so it’s hung around,” said Peters.
“He played through it last week but it was better that he had a rest today.”
Burgess was replaced by young winger Noah Booth against the Bulls.
Whether he will play at home against Castleford on Thursday night will depend on whether he recovers in time.
“Hopefully, it’s nothing major but he needed a rest today. There’s a five-day turnaround so we’ll see how he goes,” added Peters.
“We’re in a good position at the moment. We want to rotate and give players an opportunity when we can. It was good to get Noah some time and I thought he ran nice and direct, he ran hard. I was happy with what he did.”
Another absentee against the Bulls was Oliver Gildart, although he was not selected in the 21-man squad after picking up an ankle injury against Toulouse the week before.