Wigan Warriors 46-4 Hull KR
Wigan Warriors put a depleted Hull KR to the sword on Thursday evening, as the Cherry and Whites beat the Robins 46-4 at the DW Stadium.
Danny McGuire made five changes to the side that defeated Warrington last week with Rowan Milnes, Zach Fishwick, Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e, and debutants Charlie Cavanaugh and Connor Moore replacing the unavailable Korbin Sims, Mikey Lewis, Ryan Hall, Greg Richards and Jimmy Keinhorst.
Rovers were always going to be up against it given they had 14 first teamers out and that was evident inside three minutes when Bevan French opened the scoring after Cade Cust found a big gap in the Rovers right-hand defence. A sloppy error from Ben Crooks shortly after led to a well-worked move from the scrum that saw Liam Marshall dive over in the corner to make it 10-0.
It wasn’t long before Mike Cooper opened his account for the Warriors on his home debut as the forward was the first to a Liam Marshall kick. Rovers were, as expected, done and dusted before the first quarter and it was simply a case of how many. Although the game was slipping away from the Robins, Lachlan Coote will be disappointed in how Wigan scored their fourth as the fullback misjudged a Jai Field kick to allow French his second, the host 20-0 up after 20 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse as the Hull KR injury curse stuck again as Will Dagger suffered an ankle injury after a half break, as Rovers lost another man before the interval once again.
Against the run of play, Rovers were next on the score sheet, as Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e put the visitors on the front foot before Rowan Milnes’ well-timed kick found Ethan Ryan, who finished off a spectacular Hull KR move.
To say Rovers are doing it tough would be an understatement as they suffered another injury just before the hooter, as starman Coote was forced off with a head knock, meaning the Robins had 18 first-teamers on the sidelines as Wigan led 20-4 at the break. Coote failed his HIA and will miss next week’s game against Toulouse Olympique.
Wigan Warriors 46 (20)
Tries: French (3), Marshall (3), Cooper, Pearce-Paul, Mago. Goals: Smith (5).
Hull KR 4 (4)
Try: Ryan