The head coach pointed to mitigating circumstances after Rovers’ loss to Toulouse
Hull KR lost their second game in five days on Saturday(Image: Getty)
Willie Peters admitted his Hull KR side are feeling the effects of a hectic schedule after falling to a 32-12 defeat to Toulouse Olympique on Saturday.
The Robins were playing their third game in nine days at Craven Park and they slipped to their second straight defeat as they struggled to compete physically with the French outfit.
Errors, both in and out of possession, and penalties characterised Rovers’ performance against Toulouse and they paid the price for it as they were handed their ninth Super League defeat of the year.
Peters was quick to point to the mitigating circumstances after the game then, but he stressed that his side were still far from what is considered good enough as they strive to nail down a play-off spot.
“We’re a very, very tired footy team,” Peters said. “There’s no doubt about that.
“We’ve played every single week this year and we’re in a block of a four-game in 15 day period and we go to Wigan on Thursday which is the last of game of the block and you can see we’re tired.
“We’ve only got the option now to push through and keep going. Regardless of the performance today, there’s reasons. We went out to win the game but it’s a tired team, no doubt.
“The non-negotiable now is around our discipline. It was poor. In the first half there was eight penalties, six yardage penalties and some of that we were in control, some of it we’re not.
“Large parts of the first half was brave again but you can only do that for so long and there was some soft tries in that second half.
“Credit to Toulouse, they played really well. They ran hard, had a good brand of footy, asked some questions, I thought they played well.”
The contest wasn’t without controversy with Toulouse being awarded a try by video referee James Vella somewhat bizarrely.
Anthony Marion collected a kick over the top and forced his way over the line shortly after Toulouse’s second effort of the game. Arthur Mourgue looked to have held him up though and the on-field referee Matty Lynn concurred, sending the effort upstairs as a no try.
Despite replays failing to show a clear angle of ball hitting turf, Vella overturned the on-field decision to award Toulouse their third try at a pivotal moment of the game.
“From where I was I didn’t see,” Peters added. “It needs to be 100 per cent. I know everyone was pretty shocked. It was a key time in the game, especially when you’re hanging on. There was some things in there throughout the game. It is what it is. From where I was it looked like no try.”