Hull KR head coach Willie Peters has given an injury update on Niall Evalds after the full-back missed Friday’s clash with Wigan Warriors.
The full-back was named in the 21-man squad ahead of KR’s trip to the Brick Community Stadium but he was conspicuous by his absence on the night. In truth, KR could have done with the input of Evalds as they just fell short in a game that was labelled a shootout for the League Leaders’ Shield.
The result means KR will enter the final two rounds of the regular season in second place, needing results to go their way elsewhere if they are to stand a chance of finishing the regular season on top of the pile. However, with the play-offs just around the corner, KR fans will be relieved to hear Evalds’ injury is a minor one.
“Niall hurt his calf yesterday,” Peters said after the game, per the BBC. “It tightened up so we sent him for scans, it’s nothing too serious but he didn’t pass the strength testing.
“I was really happy with Jack (Broadbent). I thought he competed really hard. Wigan are a very good last play side and they put him under a lot of pressure and I thought he handled it well.”
Evalds won’t be the only injury Peters will be sweating over next week, though, with the head coach confirming Jesse Sue picked up an injury.
“Possibly Jesse has a wrist issue, we need to have a look at that and then we’ll just have some bump bruises and things like that,” he added.
KR lost Friday’s game 24-20, with a late brace from Liam Marshall being enough to give the Warriors their most important win of the season to date. However, all but one of Wigan’s tries came while Rovers were reduced to 12 men with Joe Burgess and Jai Whitbread being handed yellow cards somewhat controversially.
“Naturally the players are disappointed and rightly so. They put a lot of effort into that game,” Peters said on the game. “We got in front of it and probably should have closed the game out but being down to 12 men twice hurt us.
On the sin bins he added: “I need to have a look at them. The first one was fine but with the second one, I need to have a look.
“There was (a disciplinary issue). We’re in control of that. We’re in control of what we do. As I said, the players weren’t happy with the result but there’s so much to take out of that game.”
