'We certainly don't forget': Hull KR ready for shot at redemption against York Knights

They remember the defeats that sting and use them as fuel when the stakes are at their highest.

Hull KR do not need reminding of the night York Knights left them red-faced on the opening weekend of the Super League campaign.

It was a result that sent shockwaves through the competition and raised questions about KR's ability to go again following last year's historic treble.

The Robins issued an emphatic response, beating NRL champions Brisbane Broncos to complete the set of trophies – but they have not forgotten their humbling experience at the LNER Community Stadium.

As the sides prepare to meet again in an intriguing Challenge Cup quarter-final, Willie Peters has warned that Rovers are now hitting their stride.

"We've improved since then," said the Hull KR head coach. "That was our first game and we hadn't really had a friendly with that team together.

"We hurt ourselves in that game. We were up by 12 points, Mikey (Lewis) hit Liam Harris late, got sent for 10 (minutes) and we didn't handle that.

"We certainly don't forget it. We know what happened in round one and need to make sure we turn the tables on Saturday."

York have been a welcome addition to Super League but the demands of the competition are already beginning to take their toll.

With Harris, Jordan Thompson and Toa Mata'afa among the players on a lengthy list of absentees, Mark Applegarth could name only a 19-man squad featuring three loanees.

But in the spirit of a true competitor, Peters is approaching this tie with a ruthless mindset.

"I'm close with Mash and we're good mates," he said. "But I don't have any sympathy because they've beaten us once and are coming here to beat us again.

"I'm not falling into that. It's about what we do. Mash is a great fella and a really good coach but we need to make sure we've got our game on this weekend because it's going to be a tough game.

"It's a quarter-final of the Challenge Cup and we need to get our end right. It's a special competition and we always respect it the right way."

Rovers have been a strong cup team under Peters, lifting the trophy last year after going close in the previous two seasons.

While they are still striving for the relentless form that drove them to unprecedented success, their return to Craven Park has sparked the Robins into life following a challenging start to the year on the road.

Peters' men head into the quarter-final buoyed by back-to-back home wins over St Helens and bitter rivals Hull FC.

"It's certainly helped to be able to get some flow and rhythm to our game," said Peters.

"As I keep saying, it's round 10, 11, 12 when you start to see where you're at. You're only one loss away from everyone saying your season is falling apart or you're inconsistent.

"But as long as we can keep performing well. That's what we broke it down to a couple of weeks back – getting our performance right. If you do that, you get the result a lot of the time.

"At the start of the year when we were moving around, we probably thought it was just going to happen. It certainly won't happen because there are a lot of good teams.

"We're playing a good team this week in York. They've beaten us once already and we're fully aware of that."

A win this weekend would redress the balance and move Rovers a step closer to defending the trophy they spent 45 years trying to regain.

More than that, it would be another statement to the rest of the competition.

"It would show that we're starting to get a bit of consistency and starting to fulfil how we want to play this year," added Peters.

"We've seen that we're going back to what works for us, which is keeping it simple. We still want to play a good brand and entertain but we also want to make sure that we put ourselves in positions to be in games at the back end. That's what we did last weekend (against Hull).

"At the end of the day, you just need the result in the Challenge Cup. I don't want to contradict myself after talking about performance but you don't want to perform well and get beat in the cup.

"If you grind a close game out and win ugly, that's OK this week. It's just about making sure we get a result."