St Helens were second best from the very start against Hull KR on Friday night, head coach Paul Rowley admitted.
The Saints were beaten 52-10 by Rovers at Craven Park on what was a night to forget for the club and a raft of individuals.
Owen Dagnall and Shane Wright scored consolation efforts for the Saints, but ultimately they were no match for a rampant KR side who appeared to rediscover their groove and find the confidence and swagger that took them to the treble last year.
As such, after falling to their second defeat of the Super League season, St Helens will have been licking their wounds as they left east Hull. And with a derby clash with Wigan Warriors now on the immediate horizon, Rowley knows his side must learn some tough lessons from the hiding they were handed by Willie Peters’ side.
“I just thought physically we were off and we got it wrong defensively in terms of physicality and also in structures as well,” the Saints boss said after the game. “We come out of the structure and physically we weren’t good enough at all and in contract Hull KR were very physical.
“As a result, they dominated territory and possession enormously and particularly in the first half and the game was gone.
“I think it was a game too far for a tired group, but it’s a capable team what we’ve got and I don’t want to use that excuse. In some respects there’s some hard lessons out there and while they might be hard lessons and probably proved useful with individuals in the immediate, it’s a bitter pill to swallow.
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“Certainly the physicality side of it is not what we’re about and we’ve got another physical team on the horizon. We have to get that right.
“When you get a dominant side physically who were winning the ruck like Hull KR were, our rucks were slow, theirs were quick and they’re a very good team and have some pace on the edges, in particular Joe Burgess, they executed really well. I’m disappointed but I’m not shocked, a good team can do that to any team.”
To make matters worse, the Saints lost Mark Percival at the break with the centre being withdrawn at half-time due to injury.
“He’s got a leg issue that he’s been carrying so ideally he probably wouldn’t have played,” Rowley said. “We got half a game out of him but we’re at the bare bones, it’s a bit of a struggle at the minute.”
