Hull KR will be going back to Wembley once more
Hull KR’s coach Willie Peters celebrates victory over Warrington.
Willie Peters outlined his pride as Hull KR moved within 80 minutes of going back to back in the Challenge Cup.
The Robins booked their spot the final on Sunday by beating Warrington Wolves 32-12 at the Eco-Power Stadium in Doncaster and in doing so they kept their hopes of winning a fifth trophy in 12 months.
James Batchelor set the Robins on their way against Sam Burgess’ side before Joe Burgess scored his first of the afternoon in the 24th minute before Ben Currie pulled one back.
Oliver Gildart scored KR’s third of the afternoon in South Yorkshire before Burgess and Batchelor completed their braces to ensure KR will be facing Wigan Warriors under the Wembley arch.
It was a dominant performance from the Robins, arguably a season’s best, but Peters was delighted with the way his players stepped up to the occasion.
“I’m really proud of that performance,” the head coach said. “I thought we did a lot of work in that first half and Warrington scrambled extremely well.
“Before half-time they probably went in with a bit of confidence because they saved a couple of tries. We spoke about at half-time how the scoreboard shouldn’t dictate how we think we’re going. We had to build the game again in that second half but we did that and scored points at the backend.
“I thought Peta Hiku was great, Tom Amone, Jesse started well. I’m singling players out but I don’t want to because I miss people. I thought it was a real collective team effort.
“Tyrone May had some great touches, Mikey was in the game. Everyone did their job. Karl Lawton played 15 minutes at the start, he came back on but he did a great job for that 15 minutes. It was a collective effort.”
The win gives KR to win the Challenge Cup in successive years, which is something that hasn’t been done since Rovers’ cross city rivals Hull FC managed it in 2016 and 2017.
“It’s around us going back to back, to win a competition, it’s hard to do and to go back to back in a competition, it’s extremely hard to do,” Peters added. “That’s where that next layer of who you’re about and what you’re about as a team comes into play. The team we’re playing [Wigan] have done it a number of times.
“There’s a healthy respect there from both clubs I believe, but it’s a great opportunity for us to go and show how far we’ve come as a club, especially off the back of a slow start.”