Challenge Cup: Dixon will bounce back, says McCarthy

HULL KR captain Tyrone McCarthy says the squad will put “an arm around” Kieran Dixon after the full-back’s mistake-ridden performance at Wembley.
Danny McGuire for Leeds RhinosDanny McGuire for Leeds Rhinos
Danny McGuire for Leeds Rhinos

He made a raft of costly errors and seemed to get worse the more he tried in one of the most painful Challenge Cup finals to watch.

Rovers coach Chris Chester had plumped for the 23 year-old for his elusive running ahead of the more experienced and reliable Ben Cockayne but the decision backfired in a record 50-0 loss.

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However, loose forward McCarthy insisted: “The position he is in, any errors are highlighted even more. He is the last line of defence.

“Kieran offers us a lot of energy and even today he got us some go forward. Everyone makes errors in the game.

“We’ve got to put an arm round him and make sure it doesn’t affect him too much.

“We haven’t really said too much yet because he had to go straight for a drugs test.

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“Kieran is big enough to brush himself down. He will want to get here next year and put that right.”

McCarthy was one of just three KR players who had played in the Challenge Cup final before.

They clearly lacked experience and he said: “We can use (what’s happened) as motivation going forward for next season. We have got that experience now of what it takes and what you don’t do in these games.

“You need to take all the opportunities.

“At 16-0 at half-time we weren’t too downbeat. We actually believed we’d test Leeds but there was too many errors in the first 10 minutes of that second half.”