Hull Kingston Rovers finished off Magic Weekend with a 44-6 trouncing of Leigh Centurions which leaves Tony Smith’s side still in with a shot of making the Betfred Super League play-offs.
Rovers’ dominant eight-try performance against the Super League’s basement club snapped a three-game losing run and takes them back to the 50 per cent mark on the table with two games to play.
Matty Storton had a try controversially disallowed by the video referee after the four-pointer had been given by on-field referee Marcus Griffiths, but Rovers couldn’t get any closer in the opening half-hour despite dominating possession, territory and tempo.
So it was a huge shock when the Centurions took the lead, Matty Russell going over in the left corner after a swift passing play. Ryan Brierley’s conversion from the touchline gave them a 6-0 advantage.
But thereafter Rovers started to make their advantage across the field count, with Ben Crooks crashing over after out-stepping Russell, and then Albert Vete just about getting the ball down under the attention of three tacklers to give the Robins a 10-6 half-time lead.
They made the first-half onslaught count in the early stages of the second period though, with a tiring Leigh defence being breached twice in four minutes as Rovers gave the scoreline the one-sided nature the game deserved.
First, Ryan Hall danced his way from left to right across the Leigh defence after great work by Mikey Lewis, with the legendary England winger eventually feeding Brad Takairangi to score as Brierley jumped out of the line.
And it was 22-6 when Matt Parcell kept the ball alive to roll through slack tackling to score under the sticks. Hall then crossed in the corner after a one-on-one ball steal had seen the Reds gain possession in enemy territory and Jimmy Keinhorst cruised his way over after the Leigh defence had opened up in broken play.
Storton finally got his first try for Hull KR when carrying a tackler over the line with him, with the video ref not intervening this time, and then Crooks broke clear and handed the ball off for Joe Keyes to add a try to his six goals.
The win means Rovers will qualify for the top-six play-offs if they beat Castleford Tigers at Hull College Craven Park next Saturday and then round out the regular season with a win against Leeds Rhinos at Emerald Headingley.
Images courtesy of SWPix.com
