Hull KR host York Knights on Saturday afternoon as they bid to book their spot in the final four of the Challenge Cup
Hull KR loose forward Elliot Minchella.(Image: SW PIX)
Hull KR will be without skipper Elliot Minchella this weekend when they face off against York Knights.
The Robins will be looking to seal a spot in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup for the fifth straight season this weekend, with Mark Applegarth’s York their opponents.
The Knights’ injury issues have been well-documented, with Applegarth suggesting previously that he might struggle to name a 17-man squad, due to the sheer amount of absentees.
However, KR have their own injury issues and Willie Peters has confirmed that Minchella will sit out of the quarter-final clash at Craven Park due to a hamstring issue.
The head coach has allayed any fears of a long-term lay-off, insisting the loose-forward is only due to miss a week’s action at this stage, but he isn’t right to feature against the Knights.
“We have bumps and bruises, as you’d expect from a game like Friday,” Peters said. “Elliot Minchella has a tight hamstring so at this stage he won’t play this weekend. He’s the only one.
“His strength is not where it should be and if he plays, there’s a chance that he could potentially injure that to a full blown hamstring. We don’t want to risk that, we never want to risk soft tissues. He won’t play this week.
“It should be only a week. From what it is today and where it’s at today, we manage it properly and then we build him for next week and he should be OK.
“We’ll have a look, we’ll work out what it looks like but there’s a few there to choose from.”
Rovers will be able to call on the services of Rhyse Martin this week, though, which comes as a big boost following the back-rower’s three and a half week lay-off.
“He got through everything that he needed to. He trained today and he’ll be back in contention for sure,” Peters said on Martin.
Elsewhere, Peters confirmed Jumah Sambou, who has spent the season so far on loan with Widnes Vikings, has picked up a hamstring injury with the expectation being that he could miss the next six weeks.