Tony Smith insists Hull FC's new recruits were not 'overhyped' in derby nilling to Hull KR

Herman Ese'ese was sin-binned early on after catching Kelepi Tanginoa high before fellow debutant Franklin Pele saw red for a wild swinging arm on Elliot Minchella on the stroke of half-time.

Ligi Sao's late sending-off following an altercation with Matt Parcell meant the Black and Whites ended the Super League opener with 11 men.

"I don't know whether it was the rivalry between clubs," said Smith. "It was more the new boys wanting to come and make a difference.

"I think they want to prove to their new pals that they can make a difference here.

"Most of the match was played in pretty good spirit. There were a couple of little blowovers.

"I don't think they were overhyped. We were probably getting a bit frustrated with the way we were playing when Frank got involved with what he got involved with. He put on a nice, good hit and should have stopped at that."

The night unravelled for Smith's side from the moment they lost experienced centre Liam Sutcliffe to illness during the warm-up.

Joe Cator hobbled off in the early stages with a serious hamstring injury, while Danny Houghton sustained a concussion.

Smith took comfort from Hull's second-half performance with 12 men as the hosts limited the damage.

"There was a little bit of disruption but on a good day you overcome those things," he added.

"We didn't turn it into a good day, particularly in that first 40. I thought they were very, very, very brave second half. We played with a lot of courage a man down.

"We were in there fighting for it and trying to get back in it. If we could have bottled that effort we put into the second half and put that into smarts, execution and a bit of skill in the first half, we might have had a closer scoreline."

The Robins were in full control at half-time thanks to tries from Niall Evalds, Tanginoa and Mikey Lewis.

Evalds completed his double on the full-time hooter after Parcell had got his name on the scoresheet to complete a hugely satisfying 22-0 win for Willie Peters' men.

"I'm happy with the win and the way we defended," said Peters.

"In round one, you want to win and you want to win against your rivals, which we did.

"We were very clunky with the ball, we should have scored more points with the possession we had – but it's round one.

"You'd like to score more points but obviously I'm happy with the zero against."

Peters dedicated the victory to club legend Phil Lowe and former vice-chairman Rob Crossland who are seriously ill.

"That win was for them tonight," added Peters.

"Our owner Neil Hudgell came in to address us yesterday and our thoughts are with them.

"The players really wanted to win for those guys. We're really happy with that.”