After 14 months without fans on English grounds, seeing fans finally return last night was history.
More precisely, however, on the court here at Wheldon Road, the winner was Hull KR, who got a sweet rematch for last month’s painful Challenge Cup loss to the Castleford Tigers in a dramatically fitting event.
Jordan Abdull’s try in the 78th minute gave the Robins a third win in four games and completely ruined the hosts’ homecoming in front of 3,600 sold-out spectators.
Even then the victory was not entirely confirmed; Referee Marcus Griffiths missed a cheeky knock-on from Castleford on the brief restart and the yellow card Rovers support Korbin Sims for getting at the tackle as he tried to eat up the seconds.
However, there was no saving grace for Daryl Powell’s side as they fell to just a second loss of the year.
The tigers will be fuming; They were 20-12 ahead at halftime after leading 14-0 at one point, but spent most of the second period simply struggling to come out of their own half.
The Rovers, of course, had been 22-6 and 32-18 ahead in that Cup tie at Hull College Craven Park only to lose in overtime – they were owed this kind of win.
After their sloppy start, the Robins had found a rhythm, helped as always by Matt Parcell and Ryan Hall, and the Tigers were on the defensive.
That said, Castleford could have made it a lot easier; At 20-12, Jake Trueman couldn’t take Paul McShane’s pass on his own 40 yards with a clear run up front and the Rovers capitalized to start taking control.
Adam Quinlan squeezed a beautiful pass for Hall to score his seventh try of the season before Sims came close only to be penalized for a double move after Adam Milner’s shaking blow.
Still, the Rovers tied in the 58th minute when McShane’s pressure kick was recovered by Rowan Milnes, the opponent who ran downfield only to be parried by a desperate ankle punch from Milner.
They came in moments later, however, when Ben Crooks, the former Castleford winger remembered after Ethan Ryan’s injury, pulled off a spectacular finish for his second attempt of the night.
The home team broke out of their half enough for Danny Richardson to put them back in the lead with a penalty in the 63rd minute, but then came the onslaught.
Oli Holmes, once again superb for Castleford, made a tackle to save Parcell and then Jez Litten stopped.
As Parcell limped away, he felt Hull KR might lose momentum, but they kept coming, led by Abdull and Brad Takairangi expertly.
McShane thought he had a 40/20 kick, but the referee considered otherwise and then Castleford winger Niall Evalds had to produce another try-saver on the inspiring Rovers captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall.
Castleford was missing the front row duo, Liam Watts and Grant Millington, but the Rovers saw mainstay George King walk out in the first period with a worrisome hip injury. The home team was 14-0 up in just 20 minutes and was threatening to do to Hull KR what Hull KR did to them in the Challenge Cup last month.
Back then, everything went terribly wrong. Not this time. Even after that shaky start.
In his first set, Hall had been clearly put down the left by Kenny-Dowall, but his inside pass to Abdull was awkward, allowing Richardson to back away and avoid danger.
Instead, it was Castleford who opened the scoring in just five minutes.
Evalds came down the line to provide the hard hitting pass to James Clare, the fit winger who scored with his first touch of the season.
Richardson scored the first of his four goals, but his team was forced to defend their own line numerous times, Holmes with a notable tackle behind the goal line somehow denying George Lawler.
Similarly, Dean Hadley failed to land and Castleford doubled his lead when George Griffin positioned himself to attack on the left once more, Evalds this time placing Captain Michael Shenton.
When the Rovers were caught offside in the next set, Richardson added the penalty for that impressive lead. However, that was soon reduced to 14-12 when George Griffin fumbled playing close to his own line to give Crooks an immediate response with KR’s first attempt.
Converted Abdull added his second shortly after. It came after McShane, not long on the field after surprisingly starting off the bench, conceded a late-inning high penalty to Abdull.
The Man of Steel was fortunate not to see a letter, but KR made the prostitute pay for the indiscretion when Kenny-Dowall, denied on the line again, pulled out a scruffy loose …
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-05-17 21:32:59
