Hull KR head coach Willie Peters says there is plenty more to come from new signing Tevita Pangai Jr, who had an impressive cameo in his debut for the club.
Pangai Jr performed well in what was a 38-6 win over York Knights where the scoreline probably didn’t reflect the tale of the tape, with Hull KR under the pump for long periods in the second half and that is something that Peters praised, whilst also lamenting his side for making themselves work.
“I thought we defended well,” the Australian said post-match on Sky Sports, admitting: “The second half was kind of really tough for ourselves. We didn’t get out of our end purely from errors, but a lot of the resilience we showed in that second half to defend.
“I think it was like 33 play the balls inside our 20, so yeah, there was a bit to like but a lot to fix as well.”
The Robins went behind inside five minutes and surely started having flashbacks to round one, however, they hit back with 38 unanswered point, 26 of which came in the first half.
On that, Peters said: “I liked how we got back in the game. I thought we started okay and then last play, they made a 40-metre break and then it was against the run of play and then we went for a short dropout and they scored.
“I liked the way we responded to that and I thought we found our feet and our groove but as I said, the second half, we probably should have gone on with that. We had all the momentum and then we gave it back and then we defended our line at the back end of that game.”
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Hull KR boss hails Tevita Pangai Jr debut
One man who did help change the momentum in the favour of Hull KR was Tevita Pangai Jr with his first carry helping set up Joe Burgess’ try before his second saw him spring the first of three offloads to get their set started well.
Asked about the Australian, Peters said: “He’s only going to get better. He hasn’t played for nine months. He’s been with us for a few weeks now and he’s not the finished product.
“He needs to obviously get fitter and he’s doing a great job with his nutrition and that type of thing. I was happy with the way he played. I thought he changed the game for us in terms of momentum and got some offloads. I thought he was good for his first game.”
It was a welcome win for the Robins after losing two in a row but they now embark on a tough schedule that sees them face Leigh, Leeds, Hull FC at Magic Weekend, before then taking on Wakefield and Warrington as well.
Asked about that run, Peters narrowed the focus to the Leopards, stating: “Every game’s tough. We’ve got a couple coming up before Magic. Leigh is the focus next Friday, they’re going well at the moment and are pretty much full strength again. We played them a few weeks back and it was a great game.”
The Robins get back to winning ways 🐦#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/plTsxQvyzy
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) June 12, 2026
