White’s hot luck
TIM SHEENS saw his pre-game warning about Joey Lussick come back to haunt him as Salford snatched a late victory.
Hull KR led from the seventh minute to the 71st and were well in control with a 22-8 lead at half-time.
But in the final few minutes they switched off and got caught by a killer sucker punch when Lussick darted over.
Rovers coach Sheens said: “We had said all week that he was going to do that from dummy-half.
“It wasn’t even close, it was from six metres out so it’s really disappointing.”
Hooker Lussick’s try levelled the scores and winger Ken Sio, who had missed three of his previous kicks, held his nerve to land the winning conversion.
Sheens added: “I thought we had them at half-time but we tried to hold on and they continued to play and that was the difference.”
Delighted Salford coach Ian Watson, whose side are now joint top, said: “It’s a great start for us, just what we wanted.
“That is really good for us as a team going forward, to show that mentality after making so many errors and putting ourselves under so much pressure in the first half.”
Rovers have only themselves to blame for blowing this game after being the better team before half-time.
Josh Drinkwater created their first touchdown early in the game with a grubber kick to put in Weller Hauraki.
The scrum-half again proved lethal with his boot when he weighted a chip perfectly for Craig Hall to touch down.
They tightened their grip with another body blow after George Lawler shrugged off three tacklers to force his way over.
And when Jimmy Keinhorst made Rob Lui pay for a mistake, with another try for a 14-point lead, it looked like Salford were in trouble.
But the Red Devils, who had scored two first-half tries from Lui and Josh Jones, came out far hungrier after the break.
It took them 17 minutes before they got some reward with a long ball from Lui putting Derrell Olpherts over out wide.
Rovers looked to have responded to the danger when Joel Tomkins went over in the 64th minute but referee Liam Moore disallowed it for not grounding properly. Tomkins was furious and Sheens said: “Joel thinks he got it down. That was the turning point.”
Salford then slowly but surely started turning the screw – and the home side had no answers.
Quick hands between Jackson Hastings, Lui, Niall Evalds and Junior Sa’u put Sio over on the left wing.
Sio was unable to add the conversion, leaving his side four points adrift but it never looked like being a safe lead for Rovers.
Winger Ryan Shaw came up with a try-saving tackle on Sa’u but they were caught cold when Lussick nipped in from dummy-half.
Sheens added: “We disappointed ourselves and the fans with that second half performance. That’s two wins and two defeats but it could have been three and one.” JIMMY WHITE admits he rode his luck to secure a spot in the last 32 of the Snooker Shoot Out. He claimed a tense 32-18 win over John Astley. But six-time world finalist White, 56, said: “A couple of times I lost the plot. Luckily, he missed an easy ball in the yellow pocket otherwise I would have lost.”
He beat 11-time women’s world champion Reanne Evans in the first round. Amateur Steven Hallworth pulled off a major shock, thrashing world No.27 Tom Ford by 120-8.
All matches at the Watford tournament are decided over a single frame with a shot clock ensuring the games last a maximum of 10 minutes.
PHIL GIRVAN