Willie Peters has confirmed that Hull KR skipper Elliot Minchella was simply rested on Saturday night.
The Robins returned to winning ways with a 34-6 win over Catalans Dragons, with Mikey Lewis, Joe Burgess and Jack Broadbent scoring two tries each to give them a comfortable evening in the south of France.
However, they did it without their captain Minchella, who was a notable absentee when the team news came through 90 minutes before kick-off. The number 13 did make the trip to Perpignan and he could be seen alongside Peters in the stand during the game, watching on from a vantage point.
Fortunately, Dean Hadley’s performance at loose-forward ensured Minchella wasn’t missed at the Stade Gilbert Brutus but his absence left many Rovers fans concerned.
Peters has moved to allay those worries by confirming that Minchella was simply rested, despite the importance of the fixture given KR had lost their previous two games heading into the contest.
Hull KR boss on Elliot Minchella absence
“He needed the rest, it’s exactly the reason,” Peters told BBC Radio Humberside. “We were looking to possibly do it after the break, I wanted to give him a couple of weeks off because the players now have got five days away where they can go and reset.
“We need that. He certainly needed that, I think it was probably a week too long for him.
“The decision was do we play him and then hope we can spike him for a week and he gets his rest but we made the decision that it was best to rest him and look what Dean Hadley did. He came in and got a man of the match performance.
“That’s what he does, Dean, it doesn’t matter where he plays, eight, 10, 13, back-row, he puts that shift in every time.”
The Robins now have a little under two weeks to rest up and prepare for their trip to Salford Red Devils next up.
