Rovers recorded a 24-6 victory at Craven Park to secure a seventh successive victory over FC
Hull KR’s Oliver Gildart celebrates his try against Hull FC with Tom Amone and Jez Litten.
Willie Peters says ‘it means a lot’ after winning his last Good Friday derby game as Hull KR coach. Peters’ side ran out 24-6 winners at Sewell Group Craven Park to stretch the champions’ winning streak against their great rivals to seven successive wins, retaining the Clive Sullivan Memorial Trophy in the process.
The result lifted Rovers into a play-off position and ahead of FC in the standings, while also ensuring Peters got to get his hands on another trophy.
Admitting he had spoken to the players in the build-up about the importance of winning the 250th meeting between the sides, Peters was delighted to tough out a win in a competitive clash that saw the score blow out late on.
“We spoke about it being the 250th game and it was nice to win the Clive Sullivan Trophy again, he’s obviously a legend of the game,” said Peters.
“We don’t take winning the trophy lightly and any trophy we can go after we try to win and we’re proud to win this one again. It means a lot to a lot of people winning this game, it is bigger than two points to a lot of people.”
Rovers have now handed the squad three days off over the Easter weekend, with the players thankful of a rest after a busy start to the season that has taken them to Las Vegas and the south of France, while also recovering from the demands of winning the World Club Challenge.
With four wins from their last five games since Vegas, KR go into the break with momentum. It wasn’t straight forward against FC in a competitive and often fiery derby encounter, but Rovers ground it out for long periods before getting their rewards late on as they pulled away.
“I’m really pleased we got the result and sometimes it doesn’t matter too much how it looks, it’s just about getting the result,” added Peters.
“Against Catalans and York we got to a position to win but we didn’t, so it was good in a game like this to get the win. The late tries came from what we did throughout the game.”