Injury relief, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves disciplinary concern and Hull KR v Huddersfield Giants talking points

Hull KR moved back to the top of Super League as they beat Huddersfield Giants 34-0 at Craven Park.

The Robins didn’t have things all their own way and were made to work for large periods but Joe Burgess got a brace on the day, with Mikey Lewis, Tyrone May, Kelepi Tanginoa and Jack Brown all touching down.

Here’s some talking points.

A tough watch

It’s totally understandable for Hull KR to experience something of a lull coming off the high of last week, but Willie Peters won’t have been happy with the lack of intensity at Craven Park. Huddersfield deserve to be praised for their defensive efforts, but Rovers just didn’t ask the questions they usually would as they turned in a performance that can only be described as flat for large periods.

Joe Burgess got them moving in the right direction inside the opening 15 minutes, but what followed was 40 minutes of frustration, sloppiness and disappointment, with the Giants doing a fine job of sucking the life out of KR’s attack. Mikey Lewis managed to find the breakthrough around the hour mark, though, and that just about killed off the Giants.

With the visitors flagging and the floodgates open, Tyrone May, Kelepi Tanginoa, Jack Brown and Burgess touched down late to make the scoreline a comfortable one.

Sense prevails?

Hull KR were reduced to 12 men in the first half when Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was sent to the sin bin for a high shot on Matty English. Given the spate of recent red card decisions, Rovers fans were waiting with bated breath while the match official team of Tom Grant and video referee James Vella made a decision.

But, they made the right call with the former New Zealand international being shown a yellow for the shot which left English bleeding from the mouth. The decision still took far too long for the officials to make, with the home support openly voicing their frustration.

The incident will be looked at by the Match Review Panel on Monday, but if Waerea-Hargreaves is charged, the fact that English was unable to return could ensure he gets three extra disciplinary points.

One eye on the Cup

Willie Peters was asked about managing his squad during his pre-match press conference with the Cup final in mind. He gave little away at the time, but his selection was certainly enough to suggest that’s on his mind as that Wembley date approaches.

Peta Hiku and Sauaso Sue, who have played in every game this season so far, were both rested against the Giants. Noah Booth got a shot at centre as a result, while Dean Hadley was the man asked to play big minutes through the middle.

It seems Peters might just be tempted to continue that strategy in the weeks leading up to the final and if he does, fans can expect a number of their big hitters, like Hadley, to be given a rest over the next fortnight.

Flanagan continues to impress

Huddersfield will have been pleased with their performance for an hour, with the final 20 being an unfortunate symptom of the effort they’d poured into frustrating the Robins for so long. As such, Luke Robinson will be pleased with a number of individual performances but George Flanagan was the man that arguably caught the eye the most as he backed up his man of the match showing at Magic Weekend.

He took everything that came his way, kicked well with a couple of drop outs causing problems for Rovers and he showed his defensive strength on several occasions, making a last ditch tackle or two.

Hooker relief

Bill Leyland looked set to play big minutes for the Red and Whites on Saturday with the hooker entering the fray in the first half. Peters was understandably looking to spell Jez Litten for as long as possible with the Cup final on the horizon

That plan looked to have thrown in the bin, though, when Leyland needed to be helped from the field after the half-time hooter. The hooker appeared to pick up a leg injury in the final tackle of the first half and it was Litten who emerged in the role for the second half.

With Micky McIlorum already sidelined, Peters will have been sweating on his hooker options, but he’ll have taken encouragement from the sight of Leyland jogging up and down the touchline in the second half and with five minutes to play, he returned to the action. A big relief for the Robins.