Pressure is on Wigan, insists Sandercock

Craig Sandercock’s erring side find themselves in a seemingly hopeless position having fallen outside of the top eight with just two games to go.

The Robins’ play-off destiny is now out of their own hands as they require other results to fall their way.

They must also defeat Wigan, which is clearly no easy task, to realistically even take the race with rivals Bradford and Wakefield into the final weekend.

Tomorrow’s rampant visitors have only lost twice on the road all year and require just a single point to claim the League Leaders’ Shield.

Slumping Hull KR, meanwhile, have lost all five home games since last winning at Craven Park against Warrington on June 3 and have prospered just once in their last eight outings.

However, they have been competitive throughout all those fixtures, a drop goal being the only difference against both champions Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield.

“There’s a bit more pressure on Wigan,” admitted Sandercock.

“They are at full strength and come here in first, playing us who are now out of the eight.

“But we’re hoping to spoil the party and will be presenting 17 players who are ready to play.

“You never know what can happen.”

Rovers will be similarly hopeful when it comes to sneaking back into the play-off berths.

Being two points behind eighth-placed Bradford, and Wakefield also having a point advantage over them, it seems highly unlikely to be realised.

But Sandercock said: “That’s the beauty of this great game of ours – if we can beat Wigan and knock over London in the last round it could happen.

“We’re under no illusions it is probably against the odds and we can’t control that.

“We know what a good side Wigan are but we’ve trained really well and put a couple of things in which will hopefully steer us in the right direction.

“It’s easy to find weaknesses in any side but it’s different to enact them in a game situation when under pressure and fatigue. That’s what we need to do.”

Rovers hope to have ex-Kiwi centre Jake Webster back from injury to strengthen their three-quarter line Wigan are also buoyed by the likely return of stellar Kiwi scrum-half Thomas Leuluai from a broken leg.

However, their opponents are bolstered by the return of current New Zealand international Thomas Leuluai from a broken leg as the pivotal scrum-half plays his first game since June.