Quite who was under more pressure to win this opening game of The Qualifiers is up for debate. Hull KR were the Super League side and after booking their place in the Challenge Cup Final last Saturday were clearly the favourites, but Leigh were coming into this fixture with a two-year unbeaten run at home behind them and a reputation as the best team outside of the top flight.
That run looked certain to be extended when the Centurions – who beat two Super League sides in the Challenge Cup this year – led 24-6 thanks to a dominating opening 40 minutes crafted from the kind of enterprising rugby that has seen them earn rave reviews this year.
But Hull KR seem to perform at their best when their backs are against the wall and they fought back to emerge victorious and claim the first points of this new mini-league. In a seven-game season where all eight teams start on zero points are more precious than ever before the Robins took a significant step towards retaining their Super League status against a Leigh side who many expect to join them in the top flight next year.
Without the influential half-back Albert Kelly – who is expected to miss the final at Wembley against Leeds on 29 August due to a knee injury – the Robins became the first team to win in Leigh since Batley in September 2013: and the enormity of this result should not be underestimated.
“I put a rocket up them at the break,” said Chris Chester, the Hull KR coach. “But it shows the character of the boys to bounce back, as well as the belief in the camp. We controlled things a lot better in the second half, and after a few choice words at the interval they responded.”
It was Hull KR who opened the scoring through Dane Chisholm, the man who will likely replace Kelly’s shoes at Wembley, but that was the only points they could muster in the opening 40 as Leigh turned on the style. Tries from Ryan Brierley, Gregg McNally, Andrew Dixon and Tom Armstrong put them into a commanding 18-point lead at the break and it looked like Leigh were set to take a significant step towards promotion.
But they could only add a penalty from the boot of Martyn Ridyard to their tally in the second half with tries from Kieran Dixon and Maurice Blair clawing the gap back to give the Robins hope.
That hope turned into genuine belief as the game approached the final 10 minutes as the forward Tony Puletua crashed over to reduce the gap to two, before late tries from Shaun Lunt and Ben Cockayne ultimately scuppered Leigh’s hopes of kicking their promotion quest off with a win.
“It’s a massive opportunity missed,” said their coach, Paul Rowley. “We didn’t do the simple things required to win a big game, and if you give teams like Hull KR chances and space, they’ll punish you – and that’s what happened.”
