Robins rocked by Tom’s treble
TOM JOHNSTONE scored his second hat-trick against Hull KR this season as Wakefield won for only the second time in nine games.
But despite a record Super League score against Rovers, coach Chris Chester opted to look down rather than up the table.
He said: “I am pleased we got the result and the two points because it makes the gap that bit bigger with the teams underneath us.
“We have spoken about how difficult it is going to be for us to get in the top four. The top-six is probably more realistic where we are at the minute.
“Hopefully now we can put some wins together because this month is going to be important with Huddersfield twice and Widnes to come.
“But I don’t think the scoreline reflected how tough a game it was because Rovers caused us a hell of a lot of problems in that first half.”
Trinity racked up 36 second-half points after leading 18-12 at the break.
Winger Johnstone, bidding for a mid-season England call-up against New Zealand in Denver, now has eight tries for the campaign. His latest treble came in Wakefield’s nine-try success that also saw half-back Liam Finn pass 500 points for the club with the third of his eight goals.
“We are disappointed with the scoreline but you can’t win a game without the football,” admitted Robins boss Tim Sheens.
“We gifted them so much ball in the second half.
“In the first half we were in a battle with them and had a try taken off us so it could have been 18-16, possibly 18-all, and that makes a difference.”
Dual registration winger Kieren Moss, who bagged seven tries in York City Knights’ world record
144-0 win over West Wales Raiders, was among Rovers’ three try scorers.
Meanwhile, Bradford Bulls have become the latest team to run up a cricket score against the League One whipping boys, scoring 21 tries in a
124-0 club record win at Odsal yesterday.