Hull KR head coach Willie Peters hailed his spine players but still cited some areas to work on after a resounding 48-10 win over York Knights in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
Many expected a resounding win but that was also the case back in February when these sides faced off for the Super League season opener, with York ultimately causing the huge upset.
That never looked in danger today as Tyrone May scored the first of his three tries inside 90 seconds with the Robins going on to score seven more in a comfortable win.
Despite that, head coach Willie Peters still picked out some faults when speaking post-match on the BBC.
“We obviously got a result, but look I think there were some areas that we need to work on,” the Australian said.
“I’m taking nothing away from York, York have got a lot of injuries, so I thought they kept coming. There were things I really liked but there were some things that we need to do better as well, that’s for sure.”
Pushed on what things he saw that he didn’t like, Peters said: “We probably went away from our plan and we tried to do things individually towards that back end. Not getting the balls off kicks, short kicks and kick-offs and that type of thing, they hurt you eventually. They didn’t hurt us today, which is good, but there’s some areas like that.”
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Hull KR coach highlights key trio after Challenge Cup win
Much of his post-match talk focused on Rovers’ quick start and the fact that the game was controlled by their spine with all three of Tyrone May, Mikey Lewis and Jez Litten coming in for key praise.
Peters said: “Everyone wants to start well, we’re no different, and we wanted to start well in that second half as well. There were moments in that second half where I don’t think we did.
“Every team always talks about a good start, and then hopefully you get the momentum off the back but yeah we did start the game well.”
Addressing the spine, he added:”I heard you saying around our halves and the spine running the ball. I was really pleased with that. The way the game is now, it’s a running game for the halves, and if your spine is not running the ball then your attack is usually not as effective, so, I was happy with that.”
One man who came in for specific praise was Jez Litten with the hooker tipped to remain at the highest level for plenty of years.
“His best years are now ahead of him,” Peters said of the England international, adding: “He’s 28, but he’ll play until he’s 35. He’s an exceptional player who is very important to what we do. I was really happy with what he did, he certainly run the ball well today.”
Both Mikey Lewis and Tyrone May came in for praise too, with Peters stating: “There’s a lot of stuff you can’t coach with Mikey, we just want to promote him running the ball, and making sure he’s getting his hands on the ball as much as possible, but it was good to see. We want to promote the idea that when you see something, take it, and he did that today.”
On May, he added: “He controls a lot of our meetings, our spine meetings, and when we’re talking around our attack he’s a bit of an unsung hero because obviously Mikey and guys like that get the headlines.
“For us, Tyrone is such an important part to our attack. He might not throw that last pass, but he’s thinking two or three plays ahead, trying to free the space up for Mikey to get his hands on the ball. I like the connection that they’ve got.”
Hull KR are in @TheChallengeCup Semi-Finals after defeating York RLFC Knights 48-10 👊
Here’s as it happened… 👉 https://t.co/2gypoz5Ny1#UpTheRobins🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/HDpLclQo9H
— Hull KR (@hullkrofficial) April 11, 2026
