YORK KNIGHTS 2 HULL KR 44
EMMA KENNEDY, LNER Community Stadium, Friday
HULL KR eased into the fourth round of the Challenge Cup with a comfortable victory in front of a record crowd at York.
Debutants Rhyse Martin and Tom Davies were both on the scoresheet for Willie Peters’ side – the former recording two tries and siz goals – whilst Man of Steel Mikey Lewis twice came back to haunt the Knights, for whom he enjoyed a prolific loan spell in 2021.
Peta Hiku, Niall Evalds and substitute Kelepi Tanginoa completed the scoring on a cold, wet and windy night in North Yorkshire.
That is to take nothing away from a gutsy performance by the Knights, who could hold their heads high after at times matching their Super League opponents, which stands them in good stead ahead of the new Championship season.
Mark Applegarth welcomed back Will Dagger after missing the second-round rout of Keighley through the concussion protocols, and he fired the hosts in front from the tee on six minutes after a coming-together between hookers Michael McIlorum and Paul McShane.
The Knights retained their lead until the half reached its mid-point, largely matching their opponents, whose first real hit-out of the year was not without its mistakes.
That was until Sauaso Sue shipped the ball left to Lewis on the ten-metre line, and he dummied his way over into the left corner to put KR in front.
Martin skewed his touchline attempt wide, but did bisect the sticks with his next attempt just six minutes later after he had collected a Lewis bullet pass and crawled his way across the line.
Two tries became three for the visitors on the half-hour, Hiku losing Ata Hingano, Jesse Dee and Oli Field as he strolled over to the right of the posts. Martin again converted.
That is not to say York did not have their chances, makeshift centre Field having their best of the opening 40 minutes on the stroke of half-time only to be brought down just short after backing himself to dart for the line when a pass outside to Myles Harrison may have been the better option.
The Knights made a solid enough start to the second half, but KR nudged further in front after the hosts had been adjudged to have raced prematurely out of the line, with debutant Davies running onto Hiku’s short pass on the overlap to score into the right corner, where Martin converted with ease.
Harrison came within a whisker of bringing York back into the contest after rising highest to Hingano’s chip out wide, but referee Chris Kendall spotted a knock-on in the build-up.
Instead, the Robins widened their advantage shortly before the hour, as after Connor Bailey had jumped out of the line, Lewis played in Martin, who surged through a gap to double his tally.
And as York began to tire, the scoreline grew.
Substitute Litten raced through 40 metres before finding the supporting Evalds to score beneath the posts, before the hooker fed Lewis to score in a routine straight off the training ground.
Martin converted both, and did so again when Tanginoa completed the scoring with five minutes remaining, strolling over from Tyrone May’s pass.
The final chance of the game fell York’s way, but they fell short of the consolation their efforts had deserved, the Robins’ defence recovering well to thwart what had seemed a certain try for Joe Brown with just seconds until the final hooter.
They were at least celebrating a successful night in the stands with the club claiming their biggest home crowd in their history, with the attendance of 5,369 far surpassing the previous mark of 4,281.
GAMESTAR: Interchange hooker Jez Litten injected a new intensity into the Robins, who pulled away in the second half.
GAMEBREAKER: Hull KR’s three tries in ten minutes towards the end of the first half killed any momentum the Knights had built, having largely matched their opponents before that.
MATCHFACTS
KNIGHTS
1 Will Dagger
2 Joe Brown
3 Kieran Buchanan
20 Oli Field
26 Myles Harrison
6 Ata Hingano
7 Liam Harris
8 Jack Martin
9 Paul McShane
13 Jordan Thompson
11 Jesse Dee
12 Connor Bailey
16 Jacob Gannon
Subs (all used)
10 Brenden Santi
15 Jack Teanby
19 Sam Cook
21 Conor Fitzsimmons
Goals: Dagger 1/1
HULL KR
1 Niall Evalds
2 Tom Davies (D)
3 Peta Hiku
4 Oliver Gildart
5 Joe Burgess
6 Mikey Lewis
7 Tyrone May
8 Sauaso Sue
14 Michael McIlorum (D)
10 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (D)
17 Rhyse Martin (D)
12 James Batchelor
13 Elliot Minchella
Subs (all used)
9 Jez Litten
11 Dean Hadley
16 Jai Whitbread
20 Kelepi Tanginoa
Tries: Lewis (21, 70), Martin (27, 58), Hiku (31), Davies (47), Evalds (65), Tanginoa (75)
Goals: Martin 6/8
SCORING SEQUENCE: 2-0, 2-4, 2-10, 2-16; 2-22, 2-26, 2-32, 2-38, 2-44
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Knights: Jesse Dee; Hull KR: Jez Litten
Penalty count: 5-6
Half-time: 2-16
Referee: Chris Kendall
Attendance: 5,369
