Peters has named his starting half-back pairing for the derby
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters(Image: SW Pix)
Willie Peters has confirmed that Arthur Mourgue will play in the Hull KR halves alongside Tyrone May on Thursday evening.
Peters has a hole to fill in his spine following the four-match ban Mikey Lewis received after being handed two separate charges by the Match Review Panel on Monday.
The head coach has his options with Ryan Hampshire and Jack Charles among the more natural choices for the head coach to choose, while Jez Litten and even Jack Broadbent have played the position in the past.
However, Peters will go with Mourgue in the pivots, moving the Frenchman from his more natural full-back spot into the line.
It’s a position Mourgue played on a semi-regular basis during his time with Catalans Dragons and he even played alongside May in the role in Perpignan.
As such, Peters will look to fall back on the understanding the pair have built up by naming Mourgue, who returned from a lengthy lay-off last week, in the halves.
“We’re going to go Arthur Mourgue there, he’s going to play there and Jack Broadbent will play at full-back,” Peters said, with the KR boss being unusually open about his team selection in this instance.
“I just think we need players who have played together and have some cohesion. Those players have played together, they’ve been part of the team for a while and they’ve done the job before in different positions.
“Broady has played a lot of full-back and Arthur has played a lot of half-back as well so it’s important we have some experience coming into this game.”
Addressing Lewis’ ban, with the stand-off being suspended following Grade C late contact and Grade E headbutt charges, Peters said: “We didn’t fight it and Mikey has a four-match ban. We accept it, move on and focus on FC tomorrow. It is what it is. It’s about who is in the team, who’s available and ready to go for tomorrow.
“Naturally you have conversations behind the scenes. I’ll keep those conversations between Mikey and myself.”
Peters confirmed he would be able to call upon Sauaso Sue and Joe Burgess this week, too.
Sue suffered an ankle issue in the first half of last week’s game at Warrington and never returned but he will be involved at the MKM Stadium.
Burgess, on the other hand, is fit and ready after dropping out for both injury and selection reasons last time around.
“Jesse will play,” Peters added. “He has been carrying some issues but he’s as tough as they come and he doesn’t want to miss this derby.
“Joe will play. He’s ready to go. A couple of weeks ago he wasn’t happy with how he played and just how his body was at. He’s had a week to freshen up, I’d expect Joe Burgess to play how Joe Burgess plays tomorrow night.”