Hull KR boss Tony Smith admits his side were left battered and bruised after a committed performance ended in them being blanked 25-0 by reigning Super League champions St Helens.
The Saints claimed the bragging rights in the Mose Masoe round, with Rovers ‘bodies on the line’ attitude leaving them with multiple injuries from the contest at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Assessing his options ahead of next week’s crucial Challenge Cup clash with Castleford, Smith said: “We had two concussions and a suspected ACL with Elliot Minchella.
“It was tough in terms of injuries but that can happen to anyone. Korbin is fine but we need to keep an eye on Matty Storton and we will see how Elliot is soon.
“It will be a blow but the physio is pretty convinced it will not be good news but I will keep my fingers crossed for him overnight and hopefully we will get better news in the next day or two.”
Reflecting on the match itself, Smith was proud of his players’ effort and recognised his team’s struggles in attack probably came due to their mountain of work in defence.
He added: “We had a couple of slip ups in the first ten minutes which cost us. After that, I thought we got right into the arm wrestle to the point where Saints were taking penalty shots at goal to go up to 12 then a field-goal with 23 minutes to go.
“I think that tells you how they respected our defence tonight as their next points was when we had a player sin-binned, which was tough.
“I also think some of our attack probably suffered a little bit tonight because of the commitment to the defence.
“I do not want to take anything away from St Helens as they are a terrific defensive team.
“They are fully committed and make you earn every point but I remain very proud of our defensive effort and the turn-around from the boys.”
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