A Great Night to be a Hull KR Fan

Albert Kelly scores against St. Helens

Friday was a great night to be a Hull Kingston Rovers fans and believe me it has not been often that I have wanted to write those words in the last few years, but last night it certainly was a case of the feel good Fridays as we sent St. Helens spinning to their first defeat of the year, Travis Burns got a kicking on his first return to the KC Lightstream Stadium and missed a last second kick to give the Saints what would have been a thoroughly undeserved point, Hull FC got beat at Castleford and it was announced we have signed the legendary Jamie Peacock as our Football Manager from next year as he takes the next step in what has been an outstanding career.

Let’s start with the match against St. Helens.

Saints went into the match on the back of 6 successive league wins. They have not really hit their straps though, apart from the round 2 demolition of Salford City Reds and against the Wolves last week. They have struggled to get past Catalans Dragons, Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Widnes Vikings but a winning run breeds confidence and I can tell you that most Hull KR fans were not expecting a win last night.

It’s common knowledge that St. Helens have struggled in East Hull since they beat us in our first year back in Super League in 2007 – since then they have drawn one and lost 6 Super League games and have also lost a Challenge Cup tie as well – so last night was there 8^th defeat in 10 visits to Craven Park / KC Lightstream Stadium in league and cup games in the Super League era.

As I said, most of us Hull KR fans (me included) were not expecting a win last night as our form has been so inconsistent this season and we have run hot and cold.

When we have been hot we have been scolding with Terry Campese and Albert Kelly splitting Leeds Rhinos apart in the first half of the round 1 game and absolutely demolishing Catalans Dragons with 46 unanswered points in our last home game in round 5 – but in between we have suffered a debacle of a defeat at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in round 2 and lost a game that we really needed to win at Widnes Vikings in round 6.

Adam Walker

We are running short on props at the moment with the retirement of Mick Weyman, the suspension of Mitch Allgood (although he will be back for the Derby next week) and the loss announced this week of former Leeds Rhinos star Ryan Bailey, released for personal reasons, and it was thought that a Saints pack including the imposing figures of Kyle Amor, Mose Masoe and ,one of the players of the year so far, Alex Walmsley backed up by James Roby at hooker would steamroller a Rovers pack with just two legitimate props in James Green and Adam Walker and backed up by James Donaldson, Kevin Larroyer and Aaron Ollett who was making his first appearance since a major knee injury suffered last year. All of these 3 normally play back row and are nowhere near the physical size of the aforementioned Saints forwards and when you add in Atelea Vea and Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook to the mix it was headed for a tough night for the Rovers forward pack.


But the Rovers pack, in particular the front row of Walker, Green and outstanding new signing Shaun Lunt at hooker got through a mountain of work and really stood up and took the fight to the Saints pack and they were superbly backed up by the back row of Graeme Horne, Maurice Blair and Tyrone McCarthy. Larroyer and Donaldson came off the bench and provided some much needed quality hard working support.

But it was half back Albert Kelly who was the star of the show, particularly in the first half with two 90 metre tries that really set the tone for a great team performance and got the crowd roaring the team on after the set back of an early Jon Wilkin try for the Saints.

With luck on his side he could have ended with 4 tries and he was a constant thorn in the Saints side and his half back pairing with Terry Campese is turning into one of the best in Super League – Campese is currently on a 1 year contract and the club need to get that sorted quickly as there are rumours flying around about interest from Wigan Warriors in the former Canberra Raiders legend.

The defensive effort was also the best of the season by far. Lunt made 47 tackles and his front row partners 30 each whilst the starting back row of Blair, Horne and McCarthy made 27, 33 and 37 tackles respectively and with Larroyer and Donaldson contributing 28 and 23 tackles from the bench.


Saints pounded the Rovers line at times and just could not break them down until the frantic final few minutes when two tries were scored off the back of forward passes from Burns. Fortunately, Burns missed the final conversion to level the scores and Rovers got the win they fully deserved for a superb and committed performance.

Tough Night for Travis Burns

Talking of Burns and he will certainly know this morning that he was in a tough game of rugby league last night. He was on the end of some big hits and rough treatment and, to be fair, he put a couple of good shots in himself, he was booed by the home crowd constantly and missed that last second conversion to give his side a point – not the most joyous of returns for the former crowd favourite.

The really big news of the days was that the club has pulled off the massive coup of signing Jamie Peacock to the newly created position of Football Manager from 2016.

Peacock will end a stellar career of over 500 appearances that started with Bradford Bulls in 1999 and will end at Headingley after 10 years with the Leeds Rhinos and has included 3 Super League titles, 2 World Club titles and 2 Challenge Cup winners medals with the Bulls and 5 Super League titles, 2 World Club titles and 1 Challenge Cup winners medal with the Rhinos – a phenomenal 15 major medals won as well as a superb international career with England and Great Britain and being awarded the Man of Steel trophy in 2003.


Jamie Peacock

Peacock is hugely respected in the game and is an intelligent man and accomplished motivational speaker and his role is expected to include contract negotiations, club strategy, recruitment and pre-season training camps amongst other things.

There is no doubt in my mind that having Peacock’s experience at the club will help Hull KR improve from top to bottom both on and off the field and I am very excited about what he could bring to the club. It certainly is a massive show of intent by the club and could draw in the best of young English talent as well as being a draw card for top class players as well.

Leeds Rhinos are one of the most successful sporting organisations in the game and are an extremely professionally run outfit and Peacock has been exposed to the inner workings of the club for a long time and will bring tons of experience with him and he has also been studying towards a degree in sports management.

The fact that the Rhinos offered him a role with the club which he turned down to look for a fresh challenge is typical of the nature of the man – he could have quite easily stayed in his comfort zone and probably had a job for life with the Rhinos but now he can use all of the experience he has gained on and off the pitch to help Hull Kingston Rovers become a challenger for the major titles.

Chairman Neill Hudgell

Hull KR Chairman Neil Hudgell should be hugely congratulated for getting this deal across the line and I, along with thousands of Hull KR fans, cannot wait for the arrival of this modern day legend of the game. The move has been universally welcomed in East Hull and he will leave the Rhinos at the end of the year with the full support of the Rhinos fans who appreciate everything he has done to make their club the most successful in the Super League era.

The night was topped off by Castleford Tigers beating Hull FC 20-14 at The ‘’Mend a Something Jungle I’m a Celebrity’’ stadium and the Robins will go into next Thursday nights Derby against Hull at the KC Stadium on a huge high – but we all know that form counts for nothing in these kind of matches.

Bring it on!!!!