HULL KR were hugely impressive in defeating their neighbours and close rivals Hull FC on Saturday.
And the great thing for their coach Willie Peters and their supporters was that they were able to do it largely without their inspirational star Mikey Lewis, who departed the game with an apparent groin strain after around 15 minutes with the score at 0-0.
At that moment I can only imagine that the Hull FC supporters felt a surge of optimism as their likely tormentor-in-chief left the field.
But on came Jez Litten, and Mikey’s absence allowed him to have a blinder, demonstrating extraordinary calmness, a brilliant passing ability and excellent support play as the Robins went into an 18-0 lead at half-time.
It was a perfect opportunity for Litten to demonstrate what a great player he is off the bench, having the flexibility to play at halfback or hooker, and I’m sure the England coach Shaun Wane will have taken note as he contemplates his squad to face Australia later this year.
If I were him, I would have little hesitation of selecting Litten for a bench role against the Aussies.
All the Hull KR players deserve credit for their imposing victory, but who deserves more credit than most is Michael McIlorum, who would have been expecting to start the game and then be substituted at some point to make way for Litten. But instead, at the age of 36, he played for 80 minutes (unless I missed him coming off) and he was outstanding from beginning to end.
The Airlie Birds’ woes began at around the 22nd minute, when Aidan Sezer, who did so much in their previous Cup game against Wigan to get them into the quarter-finals, was adjudged to have not played the ball correctly by referee Chris Kendall. So possession was handed over to the Robins, who created their first try for Tom Davies in the next set of tackles.
I always feel uneasy about this aspect of the game. So many decisions about the play-the-ball not being completed correctly are marginal ones, and the reward to the non-offending team seems out of proportion to the offence, as we saw on Saturday.
Sezer’s error was the start of Hull’s defeat.
Meanwhile, when was the last time that the Challenge Cup semi-finals were lacking Wigan, St Helens and Leeds Rhinos?
It’s a fascinating Rugby League season.
