Hull KR beat rivals Hull FC 24-10 yesterday with the game being won in the opening 20 minutes as the Robins blitzed their rivals with three quick tries, however, going forward there is serious concern after one of the club’s pivotal players left the field injured.
The Robins have been relatively fortunate with injuries in 2024 with very few players being sidelined for extended periods and those that have missed multiple weeks haven’t been core spine players such as Mikey Lewis, Tyrone May, Jez Litten or Elliot Minchella.
Those in the centres have been where the injuries have predominantly been but with Hull KR boasting the most packed set of centres in the league with Ollie Gildart, Peta Hiku, Tom Opacic, Jack Broadbent and then the likes of Louix Gorman behind them, they’ve managed to cope.
One position where they don’t have plenty of depth is full-back and there are now serious concerns for the fitness of signing Niall Evalds who had to leave the field and was unable to return. Evalds arrived from Castleford Tigers and has been a sensation at Craven Park.
The pacy back has registered 17 assists with only Man of Steel leader Marc Sneyd tallying more than that so far in 2024. Evalds has also scored six tries meaning that just Matt Dufty (28), Jack Welsby (26) and teammate Mikey Lewis (24) have more try contributions than Evalds’ 23.
Willie Peters has now revealed that the full-back’s injury “doesn’t look great” sparking fears that he could be sidelined for an extended period. He had earlier reacted to the alleged ‘testicle grab’ from Brad Fash on his captain Elliot Minchella.
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Willie Peters made those comments to BBC Humberside as he reviewed the performance specifically how Evalds’ injury had affected the side and what it could look like in future weeks.
The Hull KR boss revealed: “We had a few positioning changes, Niall came off the field and moved Jez to the halves, Mikey in at full-back and that can hinder your attack and sort of slow things down a little bit. Although, it was probably more than what we would have liked but we still scored 24 points in the end.”
Pushed further on the injury status of his full-back, Peters explained: “He’s just got a bit of a groin strain, so we’re not sure how serious that is. He had to come off and then we had a couple of HIA tests done. They came back on the field, which was good.
“It just threw us around a little bit, but you need to handle that chaos. We handled it okay, not extremely well, which we need to sort out.”
“I need to have a look but Niall is the one at the moment that doesn’t look great.”
It leaves Hull KR with multiple options although yesterday’s solution of Mikey Lewis to full-back and Jez Litten into the halves does seem the most likely. Of course, Peters started the season with Peta Hiku at full-back, something he could revert back to.
There is also the chance that he shows faith in youth with Louix Gorman having impressed on loan this season, Peters could perhaps take inspiration from Paul Wellens and Matt Peet after the performances of Harry Robertson and Zach Eckerlsley on Friday night.
