'I'm proud to be coach of this club' - Willie Peters hails emotional derby win for Hull KR

Rovers thumped Hull FC 34-10 at Craven Park, having actually taken their foot off the accelerator in the second half.

That, believes Peters, was in part due to the build-up being dominated by commemorating the life of Phil Lowe, the Rovers legend who died last week.

Rovers actually ‘lost’ the second half having gone in at the break 28-0 ahead, and Peters said: “We had a big week emotionally for the club, the passing of Phil we wanted to celebrate.

“There’s a lot of emotion involved so things like that can take its toll. The derby build-up can take its toll, and we did flatten away in that second half.

“You’re always want to improve regardless of result or the margin of victory, but it is a good position to be in.

“Overall I’m proud of the players and proud of the staff, we handled an emotional week really well. I’m proud to be a coach of this club, we’re a club striving to be better all the time. We’re certainly not the finished article but we’re getting there.”

Assessing the performance of his side who made it four wins from six in Super League, Peters added: “It took us 12, 13 minutes to play like we planned to play and once we did that I thought we were extremely dominant.

“I thought our kick-chase into our first three plays set us up and got us into good positions and our talented players took over after that.

“Really pleased with the first half, and then I wasn’t happy with the way we handled it after that period, the momentum shifted for 20 minutes where it doesn’t need to.

“That’s a fix-up, but to win a derby, any derby game is pleasing, and the way we did it was nice.”