Willie Peters delivers his verdict after Hull KR progressed through to the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup, while explaining a key absence.
Despite scoring nine tries, Hull KR’s defence pleased Willie Peters the most in their Challenge Cup win over Huddersfield Giants.
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters praised his side’s defensive grit after they stormed into the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup with a crushing 52-12 win over Huddersfield Giants.
The Robins dominated once again at the Accu Stadium, a week after finally kick-starting their Super League campaign with a 32-6 victory over the same opponents.
Hull KR ran in nine tries in the fourth round clash against a Huddersfield outfit without 15 first-team players due to injury.
But despite the avalanche of points, Peters insisted his biggest takeaway was his team’s defensive steel.
“I was pleased with the majority of it,” said Peters. “The last 20 minutes got sloppy, something we’ll look at. But it’s obviously do-or-die, so I’m happy we got the result.
“People love watching tries being scored, but the area I loved the most was the defence inside our 20 metre line.
“We let in a long-range try and then an intercept at the end, but inside our 20 our defence was really tight.
“On the flip side, in attack we asked a lot of questions and scored some nice individual tries and nice team tries.”
Meanwhile, off-season signing Tom Whitehead made his first start since joining from Warrington Wolves ahead of the 2026 season.
The towering back-rower needed just seven minutes to make an impact, pouncing on a loose ball after a high kick from Mikey Lewis caused chaos in the Huddersfield defence.
Whitehead replaced James Batchelor in the starting XIII, with Peters revealing the regular starter was dealing with a minor injury.
Young hooker Bill Leyland also featured against Super League opposition for the first time this year and marked the occasion with a try off the interchange bench in the second half, scooting form dummy-half.
“James Batchelor has a minor hip issue, but I wanted to give Tom Whitehead an opportunity,” Peters explained.
“He’s trained really well and was ready for a chance, and I felt this was the right time to play him alongside some senior guys. I thought he held his own.”
With the game secured, Peters also opted to rest some of his star players in the second half – while Oliver Gildart passed a head injury assessment in the opening exchanges.
“I’m pretty sure we’re all okay,” Peters said of his side’s health following the win.
“Oliver Gildart came off but he was okay, and Mikey Lewis had something minor – but I wanted to bring him off anyway. Everyone’s okay.
“Dean Hadley hasn’t been overly well during the week, and he’ll play big minutes for us this year.”