Whitbread was one of KR’s best against Leigh Leopards on Friday night
Hull KR’s Jai Whitbread after scoring a try against Leigh(Image: SW Pix)
Hull KR boss Willie Peters was delighted with the way Jai Whitbread responded on Friday night after being dropped last week.
Whitbread struggled at Wakefield Trinity a fortnight ago and he lost his place in KR’s 17 as a result last week when the Robins took on York Knights at Craven Park. Instead the Australian forward, who recently became a father, was asked to play in the reserves as Rovers’ second string took on and beat their Leeds Rhinos counterparts.
Whitbread was the stand out name in the game and he performed as such, earning the chance to step back into the fold and come off the bench for the Robins on Friday against Leigh Leopards.
He sent a clear message to Peters as well at Craven Park, performing excellently in the back row after stepping off the bench, running hard, and he even grabbed himself a try with some excellent support play, backing up Peta Hiku following Mikey Lewis’ kick over the top.
Whitbread played big minutes too and it’s clear that he’ll be in the side next week when KR go to Headingley to face the league leaders Leeds Rhinos in what promises to be a huge test of KR’s credentials.
“Very,” Peters told Hull Live when asked about Whitbread and whether he was pleased with the response he saw from him against the Leopards.
“I thought he played really well. He ran the ball, his movements were good in terms of his defence and he was hard to handle. I was really pleased with the way he responded.
“Last week in the reserves he had a similar performance. He stood out in the reserves and no disrespect but rightly so, he should be doing that as a player of his quality and experience, but I thought he was good tonight. I was happy with him.”