Hull KR youngsters do themselves proud in spirited and battling loss at St Helens

The young Robins were beaten 36-12 at the Brewdog Stadium

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Hull KR’s youngsters turned in a performance to be proud of as they pushed St Helens all the way at the Brewdog Stadium.

The Robins were ultimately beaten 36-12, but St Helens needed a string of tries in the final 20 minutes of the contest to rack up the one-sided scoreline, with KR getting a sniff of what would have been a huge upset.

Bill Leyland and Flynn Holden scored KR’s tries on the night in Merseyside before Willie Peters’ youngsters just ran out of steam.

St Helens scored six tries in the game as the retiring Jonny Lomax scored twice, while Mark Percival, Deon Cross, Jacob Host and Harry Robertson also touched down.

With six teenagers and six debutants in the side, Rovers were always the underdogs at the Brewdog Stadium, but Willie Peters will have been exceptionally proud of what he saw from his youngsters.

KR’s young men battled through the middle, asked questions on the edges and created too, with the likes of Bill Leyland, Flynn Holden and Noah Booth finding joy with the ball.

They were working hard to rebuff the home side in defence and they even got themselves over the line only for Jack Charles to see his effort ruled out for an earlier knock-on.

However, KR’s defensive barrier was breached just before the half an hour mark after a period of sustained pressure for the hosts. The retiring duo of Lomax and Percival combined to see the centre power through Louix Gorman and touch down.

Saints scored another just before the break as Tristan Sailor’s break down the edge was eventually finished off by Lomax.

And, the half-break grabbed another just on the hooter, beating Gorman with a dummy and somehow touching the ball down despite the best efforts of Holden.

Rovers started strongly at the start of the second half as well and against all the odds, they got themselves over the line with skipper Mikey Lewis being stopped inches away from the line before Leyland hopped over from dummy half.

Then came the moment of the match from Holden. Taking the ball on as first receiver, the full-back slipped through the hole behind the ruck with pace and from there, he managed to beat Jack Welsby, Jacob Douglas and Harry Robertson with craft and guile to work his way to the line from halfway.

However, hopes of an upset were cruelly dashed when Cross made his way over with less than 20 minutes on the clock and from there, the Saints wrapped things up with Host and Robertson getting over.

KR will have bigger fish to fry of course as the play-offs get underway next week at Warrington Wolves, but the future is bright at Craven Park.