London Broncos v Hull KR: Willie Peters targets repeat of Wembley reaction in Super League mission

The club's long wait for silverware goes on following last week's Challenge Cup hammering by Wigan Warriors but that they keep putting themselves in the picture is cause for optimism.

Already Peters' side have shown an ability to bounce back quickly, shrugging off the pain of last year's Challenge Cup final loss to go on a six-match winning run that secured a top-four finish in Super League.

With Leigh Leopards, Huddersfield Giants and Castleford Tigers to come after Sunday's away date with London Broncos, the picture could look brighter for the Robins a month from now.

"It's not ideal that we're out of the cup but you certainly can't hold onto it too long," said Peters.

"One thing I admired about the group last year was how we handled the loss at Wembley and went on to do what we did after that.

"We've got to focus on what we can do now going forward. That narrow focus is what we do in London this weekend.

"I think there's enough experience in this group to know that if you hold onto something for too long, that'll affect your next job."

Before leaving their cup disappointment behind them, Rovers have had to deal with the humbling 38-6 defeat head-on.

Peters has been encouraged by their reaction but knows that competition points are not won in training.

"We were naturally disappointed to lose a cup semi," he said.

"We obviously wanted to play at Wembley and do all that again but you get what you deserve on the day – and we didn't deserve to take that next step.

"Wigan certainly did. They were class from the first minute to the 80th and highlighted why they are the club that they are.

"You don't want players hurting too much but it's certainly healthy and a good sign if players don't feel so great about their own individual performance or the end result.

"To me, it's what the players do with their actions. I've certainly seen a group this week that has trained well and are looking forward to playing this weekend – but at the end of the day, it'll be all about their actions on Sunday against London. That will tell us more about how much we want to move on from last week and make up for it."

Rovers fell well short against Wigan in Doncaster, just as they did at the semi-final stage of the 2023 play-offs.

The Robins have had the beating of the heavyweights of Super League at Craven Park but are not the same team on the road, as evidenced by the recent defeats to Catalans Dragons, Warrington Wolves and Wigan.

A challenging five-game period showed KR the level they must reach to take the next step.

"It's there to be seen on the results – it was mixed," said Peters.

"We had a couple of great performances against Wigan and Saints, and some down ones against Catalans, Warrington and again Wigan on the weekend.

"It's mixed and inconsistent but having said that, the wins that we did have showed the heights we can get to. Now it's about staying consistent with that and not having your best and worst too far away because at the moment they are."

After the heavy loss in Perpignan last month, a Super League date with Wigan was viewed as the perfect next game by Peters.

The Australian is equally enthused about facing the competition's bottom side in a new setting at Plough Lane, the scene of London's first win of the season against Hull FC two weeks ago.

"I actually think it's a good game for us this week as well because what we need is a professional, clinical performance against London," said Peters.

"You look at the game we played them here, they wouldn't have been too happy with their first half when we were really strong. Then it was a 10-6 scoreline in the second half so we went from being a dominant team in the first half and they got a bit of confidence out of the second.

"For us, it's about mentally staying in games for longer periods. We haven't done that the last couple of weeks and certainly our starts have been poor.

"We're travelling down to London and I think it's positive because it gets the group together. We're staying the night before and it gets everyone united.

"It's a good opportunity to play against a team that have nothing to lose and will be confident after their first win."