Hull KR 24 Wigan Warriors 8: Struggling Robins stun Warriors to climb off bottom of Super League

The shock 24-8 victory represented Rovers’ biggest scalp since their return to the top flight.

There was no sign of the drama to come as Wigan opened up an 8-0 lead courtesy of Joel Tomkins’s try and two goals from brother Sam. But Rovers shifted the momentum to take control through tries from Junior Vaivai, Adam Quinlan and Chris Atkin.

And it was Vaivai who finished the Warriors off to complete Hull KR’s first win in five league games.

The Warriors made the ideal start as Joel Tomkins took advantage of an error by James Donaldson from George Williams’s grubber kick to touch down.

Rovers had their moments early on, with winger Elliot Wallis only denied his first senior try by an excellent last-ditch tackle.

Wigan moved further ahead when, after kicking a 40/20 to move his side up field, Sam Tomkins slotted over a penalty.

But Rovers got back in the game against the run of play.

With not much on, hooker Tommy Lee spotted some space in behind the Warriors defence and slid in a kick that Vaivai raced on to and touched down ahead of Tom Davies.

Danny Tickle added the extras from out wide to make it 8-6 and the momentum continued to swing Hull KR’s way as the home fans lifted with their side. Sensing they were on top, Rovers turned down an easy two points from a penalty and their gamble paid off as a lovely offload from Will Dagger put Quinlan over.

Wigan had an opportunity to go into the break level but Rovers held firm after the visitors ran a penalty to turn around with a 10-8 lead.

Rovers piled pressure on the Wigan line and the Warriors cracked when Atkin dummied his way over close to the posts.

Tickle knocked over the conversion to stretch Hull KR’s advantage to eight points and leave Wigan with work to do.

The visitors thought they were back in it as John Bateman reached out for the line, only for the England international to lose control of the ball.

Wigan’s comeback hopes suffered a blow when Liam Forsyth limped off with a leg injury and they were hanging by a thread after Joel Tomkins was sin-binned for dissent with 11 minutes to go.

Tickle kicked the penalty to make it 18-8 and he rounded off a stunning victory after Vaivai sprinted 40 metres from James Greenwood’s offload following a Wigan error.

Hull K R: Quinlan, Wallis, Salter, Vaivai, Carney, Dagger, Blair, Johnson, Lee, Greenwood, Clarkson, Tickle, Donaldson. Substitutes: Masoe, Scruton, Atkin, Kavanagh.

Wigan Warriors: S. Tomkins, Davies, Bateman, Forsyth, L. Marshall, Williams, Escare, Navarrete, Powell, Flower, Isa, Farrell, J. Tomkins. Substitutes: Clubb, Sutton, Tautai, Ganson.

Referee: Ben Thaler (RFL)