'A great spectacle': Warrington Wolves boss Sam Burgess expresses delight after edging Hull KR in thriller

Warrington outscored their hosts by five tries to four as a slow start and poor handling in the closing stages ultimately cost Rovers.

Burgess said: “I enjoyed the game. I thought it was great. I thought both teams were very good.

“It was a great spectacle, all people who watched that game would have enjoyed it.

“I was really happy with them because the game swung both ways a number of times.

“You have got to manage that, and we did. I’m really pleased for the group. They bombed a couple (of chances), we bombed a couple. We got two points which is tough to do here.

“Hull KR are a good team, so we knew we were going to be on the back foot for periods.

“I thought it was a step forward for the club, but there were also things I wasn’t happy with, things to work on.”

Warrington led early through tries by George Williams and Matty Ashton before Rovers hit back through Tyrone May and Ryan Hall as momentum swung back and forth in the first half.

Further scores for the visitors through Toby King and Connor Wrench in the final two minutes of the half saw Warrington six points ahead.

Midway through the second half Oliver Gildart’s try reduced the deficit to two points, with Tom Opacic putting the home side back in front, only for Matt Dufty to claim Warrington’s fifth try which sealed a hard-fought win for Burgess’ side.

Rovers had chances to seal a thrilling comeback in the second half, but it was their slow start which ultimately cost them.

Willie Peters bemoaned that start which saw them concede two tries to Warrington and also how they let the visitors boss the latter stages of the first half.

Peters admitted: “I’m gutted for the players. Most of the time you put in an effort like that you win.

“Our execution was poor. We had a poor start and then a poor end to the first half. Some individuals if they had their time again, they would change things.

“Last passes, sometimes it can be conditions, it can be pressure, it can be all sorts of things. It just didn’t go our way with that last pass.”

Peters praised his players for the way they bounced back twice against Warrington.

He said: “They are resilient, and they do fight, and they do work hard for each other.

“My initial goal here was to have a team the community would be proud of.

“At 10-0 a lot of teams would have fallen over but not us, we dug in. It was just some of the execution stuff.

“We were the better team aside from the start and the back end of the first half. Handing them the momentum back is the frustrating thing.

“I think we created chances, and it was just the execution which cost us.”