Warrington’s play-off hopes are all but over as they surrendered a 22-12 lead against Danny McGuire’s Hull KR to lose 30-22.
The win for the Robins moves them level on points with Hull FC in the all important sixth place.
Highlights:
Sin bins change the game
It was all plain sailing for Warrington in the opening 17 minutes as they took a 14-0 advantage. However a Peter Mata’utia yellow gave Hull KR a foothold in the game. The Robins battled back to 16-12 but a yellow card for loose-forward Elliot Minchella gave Warrington the momentum as they moved 22-12 ahead.
Parcell the next momentum shift
The Hull KR hooker helped shift the game again when everything looked lost for the Robins. His ability to nick a restart and then poach a try shortly after thanks to an offload from Korbin Sims. This sparked Hull KR back into life and shortly after they had the lead thanks to a try from Ethan Ryan.
A Royale try to seal the win
Going into the last 10 minutes, the game was in the balance with Hull KR leading just by two. But a superb Will Dagger kick claimed by Sam Royale saw the Robins wrap up the win.
Match Report:
A topsy turvy first half was epitomised in the first few minutes as Warrington were twice awarded a penalty inside the opening four minutes but both times squandered possession with the first set on the Hull KR line ending with a knock on over the try line.
However, penalties kept coming the way of the Wolves and this time Warrington turned it into points as Stefan Ratchford took the two.
Hull KR had hardly seen the ball in the opening 10 minutes and things would only get force for them as Daryl Clark and Jake Wardle linked nicely to take their lead out to 8-0.
The Wolves’ brilliant start continued as they made it back-to-back tries both from Mr Wardle as he claimed George Williams’ bomb to make it 14-0 after just 17 minutes as the Wolves powered ahead and looked like their old selves.
However, momentum then swung the way back to Hull KR with a penalty coming their way resulting in a missed opportunity but shortly after that Ben Crooks didn’t need a second invitation as he opened Hull KR’s account for the night.
The try was made by Lachlan Coote as he maintained his outstanding form. He released Ryan Hall who then kicked ahead for Crooks to score filling in for key player Shaun Kenny-Dowall.
The momentum shift continued with Peter Mata’utia sin binned for a high tackle and in his absence Sam Wood got the Robins right back into the game powering over the line despite the attentions of three defenders.
Needing a boost, Warrington smartly took the two to take their lead out to four points after an altercation between Sam Royale and Thomas Mikaele which resulted in a controversial penalty for the Wolves.
The Wire led 16-12 at the interval and the game was well and truly in the balance. Interestingly, just as the yellow card had blown the game wide open, another yellow swung the game back the way of the Wolves as Elliot Minchella was shown a yellow for pulling back Mikaele as they chased a kick.
One minute later the man always seemingly at the centre of controversies in this contest got a decisive try. Mikaele was of course the man as he powered over to take the lead out to 22-12.
A big moment came just after the hour mark when Matt Parcell claimed a short goal line drop out and two minutes later he was sparking the Robins well and truly back into life when he took Korbin Sims’ pass to score.
Back in the game, four minutes later Hull KR had the lead for the first time when Ethan Ryan claimed Will Dagger’s kick to score.
You could say it was a Dagger to Warrington’s hearts with 10 minutes left. If that wasn’t then his next superb kick was as his bomb saw St Helens loanee Sam Royale complete the turn around and secure the win for the away side.
