New-found winning formula bodes well for Robins
NOTORIOUSLY, FORM counts for nothing when it comes to the Challenge Cup.
But it’s better to go into knockout ties on a win rather than a loss and forward Matthew Storton feels back-to-back victories have given Hull KR the boost they needed ahead of tonight’s home quarter-final against Castleford Tigers.
The Robins followed their Cup sixth-round defeat of Leigh Centurions by sweeping past Warrington Wolves in Super League seven days ago and Storton insists the successive wins were “a big thing for our season going forward”.
“We hadn’t done it since last year,” recalled the former Bradford Bulls second-rower/prop.
“We’d lost a couple of games, won a game, lost a game...For us, this season is all about consistency and playing well every week.
“At the start of the year, we weren’t very good at that but, now we’ve got back-to-back wins under our belt, hopefully it will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season.”
Storton also felt Rovers managed to find some consistency within the 80 minutes last week, which he believes will be crucial tonight against a team on a similar run.
“We’ve been doing a good 40 minutes and then come out for the second half and not played well,” he added.
“It’s good for our confidence as a team to get that nearly 80-minute performance. We blew them away in the first 20 minutes; they came into it a bit towards the back end, but we need to start like that and it sets a platform for the rest of the game.”
Last week’s 34 points was the Robins’ highest score of the season so far and that was another positive sign, according to Storton. He reflected: “As a team, we started the season a bit slow and our attack wasn’t clicking, but we’ve really focused on it in training and I think last week it really clicked.
“I thought our attack was really good; we were very disciplined, we didn’t go away from the gameplan and it really worked.”
That said, based on recent history, an 80-minute performance might not be enough tonight.
When the teams met on the same ground in a third-round game a year ago tomorrow, it took until the 99th minute for the tie to be settled, the home side being left heartbroken as Gareth O’Brien’s golden-point drop goal sent Castleford through. They went on to reach the final at Wembley, where they lost to St Helens and Storton admitted last year’s Cup defeat remains a painful memory.
He recalled: “I didn’t play in that one, thankfully; hopefully we’ll get the win in the 80 minutes. Some of the lads were out on their feet by the end of that game so, hopefully, there’s no repeat of that.”
If they get the job done this evening, the Robins will be only one win away from a first appearance in the final since 2015, when they were crushed 50-0 by Leeds Rhinos.
But even reaching the last four would be an achievement, Storton believes. He stressed: “We want to kick on and get to finals but, if we can get to the next stage, it’ll be a big thing in my career.
“It’s a big statement as a club if you can do well in the Challenge Cup and it kicks your season on as well.
“We focused on it in pre-season, we said we want to attack the Challenge Cup and we’re trying to do that.”
Storton also feels flitting between league and cup is a good thing.
“It’s good to have a couple of games away from Super League,” he stated.
“It is a bit different, especially playing against Leigh.
“That was a different challenge and it’s good for Super League as well, to get some form back.”