There’s no Super League action this weekend but four bumper Challenge Cup semi-finals with the pick of the lot being Hull KR hosting Leigh Leopards in a repeat of the 2023 final.
Of course, that final went the way of the Leopards courtesy of Lachlan Lam’s golden point drop goal which broke Robins’ hearts and left them without success in the competition since their sole victory in 1985 over nearest and dearest Hull FC.
The club will make it to the semi-finals for the third time in as many years if they win on Saturday night with the game available to watch live on both BBC 2 and BBC iPlayer and whilst the pre-game build-up will focus on what happened last August, Willie Peters and his Hull KR side won’t be.
Speaking to the media, Peters has explained: “I think a lot of people are plotting things around the game last year what happened last year, but we’re certainly not because it’s a different year. It’s a new year and it’s the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup. That’s all we’re focusing on, going out this weekend and getting a result.”
The new year that Peters speaks of has seen the Robins start in strong form once again with five wins from seven which places them fourth in Super League, whilst they cruised past Salford Red Devils in the round of 16 with a 40-0 win that avenged their earlier Super League loss.
As for the Leopards, the new campaign hasn’t been as kind to them with Adrian Lam’s side picking up just one win in six in Super League, albeit a big one when they hammered the team from the west of Hull 54-4.
One of the key reasons why Leigh have struggled so much is due to their injuries with three of their four Dream Team members from last year having missed multiple games, and the fourth man who earned such honours, Lachlan Lam, having missed one game too.
Willie Peters was well aware of Leigh’s injury crisis, stating: “It’s well documented that they’ve had a lot of injuries to key players, but what I will say is they still fight hard.
“We certainly respect Leigh, there’s no doubt about that and they’re a good team. You don’t go from being a good team to a bad or an average one in six to eight months. They’ve gone through and are going through what most teams will go through in a year.
“I mean they were lucky in terms of injuries last year and they’re having a few injuries this year but the players that are playing are still very capable and their halves pairing is one of the best in the competition and they’ve got some good players in that team.
“So regardless of who comes back or who plays this weekend, again we focus on what we can control and that’s playing our style and doing what we can do.”
“Why would I?” – Hull KR boss not talking about 2023
Credit: Imago Images
After having earlier mentioned that the Robins were simply focused on themselves and that 2024 was completely different to 2023, Peters firmly put his foot down on suggestions that he’d talk about last year’s final in this week’s build-up.
He argued: “No, not at all. As I said before, it’s a new year and it’s a new focus. Naturally, I get that the headlines will be around last year and all that, I understand that. But there’s no point bringing last year up. Why would I want to bring negative emotion up?”
Instead, he offered examples of two other games that would be discussed: “If we’re going to talk about last year then I’m going to talk about the semi-final and the games that we fixed up. If we talk about Wembley, you’re bringing up negative emotions and I think that’s the way we want to approach this. It’s a new year. We’ve started off quite well this year and we’ve got a new challenge on Saturday.”
Just two weeks after losing to the Leopards at Wembley, Hull KR resoundingly beat Adrian Lam’s side 52-10 before defeating the Leopards again in the playoffs 20-6, showcasing that ability to right the wrongs and “fix up” as Peters referenced.
One thing he is well aware of though is the growing rivalry that has emerged after the teams played five games against each other, the Leopards winning the first three before Hull KR got their own back in the last two games of the campaign.
Peters confirmed that: “There’s a really good rivalry now between the two clubs, a healthy rivalry between the two clubs. That’s been built on the players and what they’ve delivered in every match last year.
“In five games, there’s only two games, one on our side where we were beaten straight after the whistle and they beat us by nearly 50, and then vice versa after the final.
“The games are in and around that, they’ve all been tight, highly competitive and the fans have got behind them. So it’ll be no different this week. But as I said, the players have built that.
“Lammy and I have known each other for a long time. There’s a respect there, there’s a respect for both clubs on what we’ve done and again, it’s a healthy rivalry.”
