Poor Hull KR gave Wakefield too many chances says frustrated David Hodgson

HULL KINGSTON Rovers have dropped to bottom of Super League following a 48-18 drubbing at Wakefield Trinity yesterday and assistant-coach David Hodgson, standing in for Tony Smith who is self-isolating, felt they contributed to their own downfall.
Hands on: Wakefield hat-trick hero Ben Jones-Bishop is tackled by Matty Gee and Dan Murray, of Hull Kingston Rovers. Picture James HardistyHands on: Wakefield hat-trick hero Ben Jones-Bishop is tackled by Matty Gee and Dan Murray, of Hull Kingston Rovers. Picture James Hardisty
Hands on: Wakefield hat-trick hero Ben Jones-Bishop is tackled by Matty Gee and Dan Murray, of Hull Kingston Rovers. Picture James Hardisty

Rovers, who are now in danger of claiming the wooden spoon, staged a mini-fightback in the second half, but could not recover from going 26-0 behind before the break.

“We thought we had a chance, but Wakey played well, with plenty of energy,” said Hodgson. “We have no excuses, we showed some things in patches, but that’s all it was, patches.”

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Hodgson admitted: “We need to get better at starting games and our completions were not good enough. We gave Wakey a lot of ball and they exploited it. All teams in Super League, if you give them a bit of possession they are going to hurt you. We were at 50 per cent [completion rate] at one point in the game, which wasn’t good enough. We gave Wakey a lot of chances.”

Battering ram: Wakefield's Eddie Battye scores one of their nine tries against KR. Picture James HardistyBattering ram: Wakefield's Eddie Battye scores one of their nine tries against KR. Picture James Hardisty
Battering ram: Wakefield's Eddie Battye scores one of their nine tries against KR. Picture James Hardisty

The Robins’s next game is a derby against Hull FC at St Helens on Thursday.

“Every game, we try to win,” Hodgson stressed. “Obviously it is a lot bigger next week, derbies are a different type of game, people seem to find energy in those games. We will do some planning and hopefully have a squad that can do a job on Thursday.”

Wakefield also face near-neighbours on the same afternoon, when they take on Leeds Rhinos. Trinity are likely to be without Tony Gigot (elbow) and Matty Ashurst (ankle), who were both hurt during yesterday’s game, but the injuries were the only blot on an otherwise highly satisfactory afternoon for coach Chris Chester.

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After the defeat of Huddersfield Giants three days earlier, it was the first time Wakefield had completed back-to-back wins since April last year and Chester enthused: “I am really pleased for the players. It was nice to put in another good performance on a short turnaround. I thought we were really good, it was a really solid performance and something to work with. You can see the guys are growing in confidence.”

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