A beaming Willie Peters underlined his pride as Hull KR secured their spot in the Super League Grand Final on Friday night. The Robins had to dig deep at Craven Park, but they held firm to claim a 10-8 win over Warrington Wolves and reach the showpiece Super League event at Old Trafford for the very first time.
James Batchelor got the Robins ticking over in the first half before Joe Burgess was awarded a try, despite there being some debate about whether or not he actually managed to touch the ball down under a crowd of bodies. That saw the Robins take a 10-0 lead into the break, but Warrington hit back in the second half as a Matty Ashton brace took things to the wire.
Ultimately KR clung onto victory and the east Hull outfit will now travel to Manchester next Saturday to take on either Wigan Warriors or Leigh Leopards in the Grand Final.
It was obviously an emotional night for Peters, who is coming to the end of his second season with the club, but he still managed to sum up his emotions after the final whistle.
“I’m proud,” Peters said in his post match press conference. “I’m really proud of the players, I’m proud of the staff, everyone involved, it’s been a lot of hard work to get here and as you saw tonight, the players worked extremely hard to hang onto the lead they had.
“It was only goalkicking that was the difference. We had to fight, we had to dig deep, because there was a period there where I thought this could slip away from us.
“We controlled the first half really well and in the second half I thought we came out in the first few minutes and I thought ‘we’re back on here’. Then there was a couple of system errors and they took advantage of it then we were under the pump for the majority of that half.
“I want to pay a lot of credit and respect and acknowledge Warrington for what they’ve done all year. That what you saw there is a typical Sam Burgess team, we were in control of that game and obviously he got hold of them at half-time and in the second half they just kept coming and coming. They’re a very good team. A near complete team for me.”
Peters was keen to allow his players to enjoy the moment, but he was also quick to turn focus to the task that lays ahead of Hull KR as they bid to become just the fifth team to win a Grand Final, following in the footsteps of Wigan Warriors, St Helens, Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls.
“The job’s not done at all,” he added. “We’ll enjoy that, you have to enjoy being in Grand Finals and the Grand Final week, they don’t come around too often.
“We’ll certainly enjoy it but there’s one game to go and we’re going out to win that title, that’s what we’re here for. We’re not going there to enjoy the surroundings and the history of Old Trafford, it’s a special place to play but we’ve got a game to go and win.”
