Hull KR boss explains what made him ‘proud’ vs St Helens and talks Challenge Cup final selection

Willie Peters has outlined the pride he felt in watching his Hull KR side blow St Helens away on Friday night. The Robins saw off the challenge of Saints comfortably at Craven Park, running in six tries to win 34-4 and retain their spot at the top of the Super League table.

It was a night that started strongly with Jack Broadbent touching down early on and it got better and better as Peta Hiku, Mikey Lewis, Elliot Minchella and Broadbent once more added to the scoreboard. Lewis scored again in the second half just to hammer home KR’s dominance in the game and to send them to Wembley for next week’s Challenge Cup final on the back of another huge win.

In truth, Rovers could have been forgiven for taking their foot off the gas slightly with next week’s final in mind, but they did anything but. Watching his side show the intensity and determination they have shown all season, Peters was delighted with the way Rovers stuck to the job at hand and put Saints to the sword in style.

“I thought the players could have gone the other way in terms of mentality but I’d like to think where this group Is at now that we’d put in a performance like that,” Peters said after the game. “It doesn’t matter the game that we play, we want to have a similar sort of approach and they certainly did that tonight, so really pleased and proud of the players.

“You need to play well against St Helens, play physical and have the right mental approach. We had all those things, that was the area spoke about, the physicality.

“We had a really positive start which helped us and it helped us later on in the half when we scored our points. We did a fair bit of damage early and got rewarded with the tries that we scored, obviously with individuals, Mikey and guys like that coming off the back of the work our middles did.”

Willie Peters explains his Hull KR selection

Peters was expected to make changes for Friday with next week in mind, but Dean Hadley was the only man to have the night off with the back-rower now just one charge from a ban.

Others were wrapped in cotton wool later in the game, once the result was secure, and Rovers even voluntarily finished the game with 12 men, with a riled up Elliot Minchella being saved from himself late on.

“If Dean had another charge then he could have been out for next week so we said we wanted to pick our strongest team but be smart in not taking risks with Dean, the way Dean plays sometimes accidents happen,” Peters added. “You can get charged get points and miss a Challenge Cup final

“Next week is a different approach in terms of our selection. We have Arthur and Noah Booth who are cup-tied and we still have our injuries. It picks itself next week so there’ll be changes from tonight.”

Magic Mikey Lewis, St Helens injury blows, selection questions and Hull KR v St Helens talking points https://t.co/3LmPpzW9ok

— Serious About Rugby League (@SeriousAboutRL) May 30, 2025