Hull KR 40-4 Salford Red Devils

Hull Kingston Rovers returned to Super League action on Friday night, after having a week off from competitive fixtures. Last time out the Robins beat Leigh Centurions 40-16 with a dominant second-half performance. Tony Smith had prop, George King returning from a hip injury and straight back into his team. Rovers have surprised a few teams so far this season and climbed to the mid-way point, in contrast, their opponents have struggled so far this season. Salford are lingering in 11th place and hoping to bounce back after a pummelling from Warrington.

Salford opened the scoring early in the first half. Ex-Robin Ken Sio connected with a Lolohea kick to slide in at the corner. Many of the home support will have feared the worst at this stage, especially following a loss to a Wakefield team in a similar position to Salford, about a month earlier. It took almost ten minutes for a response from KR, captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall broke through the line finding hooker Matt Parcell on the run. A moment of controversy followed; Chris Atkin hauled Parcell down in the process of the tackle being completed Atkin stole the ball. Referee Chris Kendall adjudged it an illegal steal, rubbing salt into the wounds, sin-binning the Salford man. The visitors now down to 12 men Rovers took full advantage, first, some excellent invention from Dean Hadley put in George Lawler for a simple try. Good work from Adam Quinlan and a flying finish from Ben Crooks saw the hosts find an extra gear. Even with 13 men, Salford could not stop Brad Takairangi from scoring his first try in red and white. The centre running on to his own kick to touchdown. After a slow start, KR led 16-4 at halftime.

Salford made sloppy mistakes throughout the game, a goal-line dropout, kicked out on the full, gave Jordan Abdull the chance to convert the resulting penalty. Tony Smith’s men did not have a great start to the half either, two players came off with HIA’s (Head Injury Assessments), then the Red Devils looked to have scored when second-rower Sam Luckley barged towards the try-line, his reach was not quite long enough. Although a try was not awarded, full-back Quinlan kicked the ball away from the hands of Luckley, Quinlan was yellow carded. Once KR were back to a full complement of players they opened the floodgates, Kenny-Dowall scored via the help of the video referee. Matt Parcell carved open a hole near the Salford line, diving over to extend the host’s advantage. The Red Devils had to play expansive rugby to stay in the game, this led to an interception from Super League’s top try-scorer, Ryan Hall, who ran in his 11th try of the season from 40 meters out. The final try of the game came from Kane Linnett. Breaking through on the halfway line, Linnett threw a dummy to throw the covering defender off. Jordan Abdull was the man who passed for the try, he was tackled off the ball by Pauli Pauli, the Salford man was sent off despite the final hooter having sounded. Rovers ran out rampant winners by 40-4. The great defence helped build an all-round excellent showing from the Robins.

Report by: Simon Bromwich

Hull KR 40 (16)
Tries: Lawler, Crooks, Takairangi, Kenny-Dowall, Parcell, Hall, Linnett. Goals: Abdull 5, Milne.

Salford Red Devils 4 (4)
Try: Sio

Published on: 12th June 2021