ACCORDING to the RSPB, robins are surprisingly feisty, extremely territorial and durable characters who like to sing all year round, both day and night, a description which will come as no surprise to anyone who had the privilege to be in the company of the red-breasted Hull Kingston Rovers supporters who descended on Cardiff for Millennium Magic last weekend.

Over 3,000 Robins fans made the journey to South Wales to see Rovers complete a hat-trick of derby victories over Hull for the first time since 1988 and prolong the remarkable journey begun with their promotion as National League champions in 2006.

Few people to the west of the River Hull expected Hull KR to survive their first season in Super League, but survive they did, so creating an opportunity to further the reinvention of a club which had endured two decades of hard times since the heady days of the early-Eighties, when the Robins ruled the roost.

Their continued presence in Super League has allowed coach Justin Morgan to assemble an impressive line-up with top line signings from Down Under in the likes of Australian forwards Clint Newton and Garret Crossman and Kiwi Test centre Jake Webster joining the nucleus of last year's squad.

Morgan has yet to get the best out of the talent at his disposal – had they not secured victory with a late try by Webster on Sunday afternoon Rovers would go into this weekend's Carnegie Challenge Cup fifth-round tie against Huddersfield third-bottom of Super League – but regardless of what has happened on the field, their's is a success story in the making.

Rovers' average crowd last season was 7,160, more than double the 2006 mean of 3,330, and in their last home match against Leeds two weeks ago 9,391 people turned out to set a new stadium record attendance for Craven Park, which is undergoing a major transformation from the bleak, inhospitable ground it used to be.

The massive surge in interest has come as no surprise to Hull KR's dynamic young chairman Neil Hudgell, a lifelong fan who believes Rovers have only just begun to scratch the surface of the potential that exists within East Hull.

"We were a big club until fairly recently and I've always known there's a lot of goodwill towards Rovers locally. The last few years have been about securing people's trust and bringing them back through the gates," said Hudgell.

"There are a number of things that underpin the progress we have made: firstly we have employed the right people and secondly we've been able to build on a strong support base.

"We now have 6,000 season ticket holders and take massive numbers of fans to away games. I can't underplay the contribution the fans have made in positively improving the club's profile."

During their wilderness years, a club which won back to back Championships in 1984 and 1985 with a predominantly home-spun squad lost their way in many spheres, including junior development and community relations, both of which are vital elements for a modern, successful club.

Hudgell and his fellow directors have ensured that those areas are now being tackled seriously enough to ensure Rovers meet as many of the criteria demanded by the Super League licence application process as possible.

"There is an element of uncertainty about licensing, but I am a big admirer of what the RFL are trying to achieve and we've worked very closely with them all down the line," said Hudgell.

"We feel we're in the best position we can be to secure a licence and I'd be very surprised if there are 11 or 13 better applications than ours.

"Our deficiencies are historical. They can be addressed, but not overnight.

"No, we don't have a great record for youth development, but a lot of work has gone on in the last two years and we'd like to think we won't be held totally responsible for the deficiencies of previous regimes."

The club's new-found popularity is not altogether unrelated to the fact they have beaten their great rivals Hull twice this season to take a 4-2 lead in derby games since the fixture was revived last year.

Hudgell claims not to be unduly concerned by a haul of 13 Super League points from a possible 26, but accepts that an extended Challenge Cup run represents a golden opportunity for Rovers to bask in the limelight.

"Results are not the be all and end all for us," he said. "Results matter, but they can sometimes be used to paper over deficiencies. A series of wins is fine and does give you a feelgood factor, but you can't sustain it year on year without the infrastructure needed to further your development.

"A few losses hurt, but they should not detract from everything else that is going on.

"This year is all about progress, both on and off the field. Our goals at the start of the year were to improve on where we finished in 2007 and to win a Super League licence."

Given the way their season is going, those goals look somewhat modest for the on-song Robins.