Rovers gave their best Super League performance of the season on Friday night
Mikey Lewis of Hull KR in action during the Super League match against St Helens(Image: David Greaves, Focus Images Limited)
Willie Peters celebrated Hull KR’s return to winning ways with a call for his side to now get into their rhythm after the disruptions of early season.
Rovers’ 52-10 victory over St Helens on Friday night marked a long-awaited return to Craven Park for the first time since last season, with the champions offering a timely reminder of their capabilities after a tough start to the Super League campaign.
With a World Club Challenge won and a trip to Las Vegas for a scheduled home game against Leeds Rhinos, alongside a trip to Perpignan and two Challenge Cup fixtures thrown in, Rovers’ opening two months of the season have seen significant disruption and an inability to enjoy the normality a series of regular rounds of the competition without overseas travelling can bring.
Now, with the first of three successive home games won, Peters is looking for his team to finally find their rhythm and play their way into the league season.
“It was great to be back at home. It’s been a difficult start for the players and something we’ve had to endure, but we said there’s no excuses there,” explained Peters.
“Now is the time to get some rhythm. We are back here for three weeks and now it is time to get going!”
Next up at Craven Park for Rovers is the 250th Hull derby, with the Robins’ dismantling of Saints no doubt injecting a great deal of confidence into the team.
The result lifts Rovers into mid-table with a second win of the league campaign. While a significant early gap remains on the pacesetters, Peters is delighted his side once again demonstrated their ruthless ability to put teams away.
Revealing they went through the league ladder with the players before the game to underline the importance of a win, the Aussie coach says the message has always been to not get anxious and to focus on getting the performance right, knowing that is usually enough to secure the win for this side.
“We actually showed the players the table because we wanted to be real with where we are at,” added Peters.
“Sometimes you can get overwhelmed and start to get anxious. Sometimes you can lock up a little bit, so we spoke about freeing ourselves up, enjoying ourselves again and playing our style.
“Sometimes you can worry too much about results. Of course we needed to win, but we also need to play well. That was close enough to an 80th minute performance.
“I’m really happy with the left side and the way we attacked. It was great to see Mikey get his hands on the ball and scoring some tries. He’s a key weapon to our team”