When the Rugby Football League coined its slogan for the new Super League season, it perhaps should have accepted some games would not fit the high criteria it set out to achieve.
“Every Minute Matters” was always going to come back and bite those in charge at some point and this was very much one of those games, as Hull KR registered an embarrassingly easy victory over Wakefield Trinity.
Quite where Wakefield go from here is anyone’s guess. The obvious answer is the middle-eights: they are surely destined to be in Super League’s bottom four following an 11th defeat in succession. To make matters worse, the last eight of those have seen them ship 40 points or more every time.
The game only threatened to be a contest for the first 25 minutes, before a flurry of points either side of the interval snuffed out any faint Wakefield hopes.
James Webster said: “In parts we competed all right but in others we were absolutely miles off.” The Wakefield coach added: “We created lots of chances but came up with nothing and then they went the length of the field, which happened four or five times. Add to that a team who is struggling to defend and it makes the situation even harder.”
Credit to Hull KR though; they bounced back efficiently and professionally from last week’s 60-0 hammering at Wigan with a much-needed win – one that moves them out of the bottom four in Super League.
They were led magnificently once again by their captain Terry Campese and boosted by a 22-point haul for the winger Josh Mantellato. This may not have been the match to wax lyrical about KR’s chances this season because of the calibre of the opposition, but they did what they had to do. ,“I thought we defended a lot better, throughout, than last week,” the coach Chris Chester said. “There’s still plenty to improve on but credit to the boys. They worked hard during the week and worked hard out on the field, and we got a good performance for our efforts.”
On election night it was perhaps apt that Hull KR’s traditional red strip was offset by a blue one from Wakefield – and for the first half hour the match was as tight as the race to become prime minister was predicted to be.
Tries from Kris Welham, Mantellato and Albert Kelly had made it 14-6 after Joe Arundel and Craig Hall scored Wakefield’s only points – but from thereon in, it was a riot.
Mantellato made it a personal double with another well-taken finish to make it 20-6 at the interval before Hull KR clicked up a gear to blow Wakefield out of sight – and illustrate how far behind the rest the visitors are in Super League.
Graeme Horne was first to cross after the break from a clever Albert Kelly kick, before two tries from another wing, Kieran Dixon, made sure of the result before the game was even an hour old.
The gaps in Wakefield’s defence were becoming more and more prominent by the minute, and after Ken Sio scored a sensational breakaway try, yet more woeful Wakefield defending was exposed via a score for John Boudebza.
There was still time for Hull KR to bring up the 50 mark in another miserable match for Wakefield when Tyrone McCarthy danced his way through a beaten, dejected and outgunned side. If any try summed up Wakefield’s prospects of fighting their way out of the bottom four, it was this one.
Unfortunately, the task looks like a mountain that will be insurmountable for Webster and his players.
Hull KR Cockayne; Dixon, Sio, Welham, Mantellato; Campese, Kelly; Walker, Boudebza, Tilse, Larroyer, Horne, McCarthy.
Interchange Green, Ollett, Cox, Donaldson.
Tries Welham, Mantellato 2, Kelly, Horne, Dixon 2, Sio, Boudebza, McCarthy. Goals Mantellato 7.
Wakefield Trinity Miller; Johnstone, Lyne, Arundel, Riley; Hall, T Smith; Scruton, McShane, Kavanagh, Ryan, Washbrook, D Smith.
Interchange Godinet, Anderson, Simon, Molloy.
Try Arundel. Goal Hall.
Referee J Cobb.
