Rovers lose out in rollercoaster battle against Castleford
OLD-BOY EDEN HAUNTS KR WITH A TRY HAT-TRICK
Hull KR old boy Greg Eden scored a hat-trick as Castleford Tigers claimed a 38-24 win in St Helens. After both teams spent much of Thursday afternoon stuck in a bus, it was a fittingly dramatic contest.
Analysis
Nothing screams 2020 like a 44-point first half after losing your coach due to coronavirus protocols and seeing the game delayed because of a ludicrous decision by Super League.
Tony Smith had a close shave before being given the all-clear to coach his side against Salford Red Devils but could not escape quarantine this week after coming into contact with somebody who subsequently tested positive for coronavirus.
Despite receiving a negative result in the latest round of testing and showing no symptoms, rules dictate that Smith must self-isolate for 14 days, leaving KR without their head coach for three games including a Hull derby.
The first order of business was Castleford but nothing is ever straightforward these days, y , with the kick-off pushed back by an hour due to traffic on the M62.
Only Super League will know why they dragged four Yorkshire teams to a coronavirus hotspot via a motorway notorious for congestion.
After spending several hours on a bus, it was little surprise to see both sides lose a man to injury early on, Matt Parcell quickly following g
Nathan Massey down the tunnel.
Castleford were a team low on confidence after dropping from second to ninth in the table on the back of eight defeats in nine.
But the Tigers came flying out of the traps and Rovers simply had no answer in the opening 25 minutes.
Daryl Powell’s side were cutting KR open at will and looked to have the game in the bag at 24-0.
Jacques O’neill opened the s scoring from dummy-half before Alex Foster was adjudged to have grounded the ball ahead of Ben Crooks after Castleford kept the ball alive on the last.
Adam Milner helped himself to a t try under the sticks after bouncing o off a big hit by Weller Hauraki, whose loose offload was punished by Eden minutes later.
Rovers suddenly started running with more intent and were on the board when Robbie Mulhern charged through a hole in the Castleford defence.
The Tigers started to lose their discipline and were punished by a KR side with their tails up.
Elliot Minchella touched down Jordan Abdull’s kick into the in-goal area before Shaun Kenny-dowall went over from a lovely disguised short ball by Rowan Milnes.
There were still four minutes until the break and enough time for Castleford to have another raid, which ended with Danny Richardson kicking a penalty to make it 26-18 at the end of a breathless first half.
Rovers needed to score first after t the restart but it was the Tigers who g got the all-important try through E Eden on the back of a break by M Michael Shenton.
KR kept plugging away and finally found a way through courtesy of a scheming Parcell, who returned to the field later in the first half.
The Robins were within eight points of Castleford with 15 minutes
to go but struggled to get out of their own half and Eden finally put the game to bed with his third of the night out wide.
Richardson had the last word with his seventh goal from a penalty and KR’S long wait for back-to-back
Super League wins – dating back to July 2018 – goes on.
Key moment
Rovers were rampant in the closing stages of the first period but an error gave Castleford another chance before half-time and the two points from the boot of Richardson took the sting out of the game.
Good day – All 34 players
It’s hard enough getting out of bed at the moment with everything that is going on, let alone everything the players are having to deal with behind the scenes. Respect to both teams for producing such an entertaining game.
Bad day – Tony Smith
The Rovers head coach was frustrated to be forced into selfisolation and he would have felt helpless watching on from home.
The bigger picture
Rovers are back in action on Sunday against Wakefield. It was far from ideal preparation but Chris Chester’s side were worse off, with their match against Huddersfield not kicking off until 8.45pm.