HULL KR’S players were “embarrassed” by their defeat in Las Vegas, says forward James Batchelor – and he has promised supporters the performance “won’t be swept under the rug”.
Little more than a week after becoming world champions by beating Brisbane Broncos, the Super League title holders were thrashed 58-6 by Leeds Rhinos at Allegiant Stadium.
Head coach Willie Peters said after the match that there were “no excuses”, and in his pre-match press conference for Sunday’s trip to Huddersfield Giants he was reluctant to discuss Vegas at greater length.
“I don’t want to go into last weekend. I stand by everything I said after the match,” said Peters.
“It was nowhere near the performance required from us, and we’re all included in that. I want to see action off the back of it now, and that’s where I’ll leave it.”
Batchelor was more willing to reflect on the pain felt by the Robins’ players.
He said: “We were pretty embarrassed with what we dished up. It wasn’t what fans should expect and deserve.
“What happened happened. We’re not going to ignore it, it won’t be swept under the rug. There’s a lot of stuff we need to get better at and learn from.
“We’re resetting this week by taking it a session at a time – nail today’s session (Thursday was their first back), nail team run, then go nail Sunday, then look at next week.”
Batchelor explained how honest conversations took place straight after the Leeds defeat.
“It was not a great mood. Willie said his bit, we had a shower, then we did a proper review,” he said.
“At that point people are having little conversations with each other about things that happened and what they thought went wrong.
“Because we were that far off in every area, what we spoke about together after the game was pretty much nailed on when we watched the game back.”
Batchelor admitted the coaches were “angry”, and added: “From a personal view, I deserved it.
“It wasn’t good enough, individually and collectively. We’ve got to own that and use that as fuel going forward.”
The result ultimately turned their long-awaited trip to Las Vegas sour on reflection.
“It’s a long journey home and it’s even longer off the back of that,” said Batchelor.
“It was a league game and to do what we did and embarrass the club and the supporters is not acceptable.”