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Louise Thomas
Editor
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters shifted the focus straight to next week’s Betfred Super League Grand Final after his side held Warrington at bay to seal their place in the season-ending showpiece for the first time in their history.
Wire clawed back a 10-0 first-half deficit through two Matty Ashton tries to come within inches of snatching victory and adding to Rovers’ big match agony with memories of last year’s heartbreaking Challenge Cup final loss to Leigh still fresh in the memory.
And while the final hooter sealed a 10-8 win that saw a surge of emotion at sold-out Craven Park, Peters was anxious to maintain that the job remains unfinished with attention immediately moving to next week’s final against either defending champions Wigan or Leigh.
Peters said: “The job’s not done at all. We’ll enjoy that, because you’ve got to enjoy being in a Grand Final and all that comes with Grand Final week, but there’s one game to go and we’re going out to win that title.
“We’re not going there to enjoy the surroundings and the history of Old Trafford. It’s a special place to play and the players are rightly really proud of each other, but we’ve got a game, just like we had tonight, to go and win.”
Peters admitted he enjoyed little of a tension-filled encounter which was settled in the dying seconds when Matt Dufty could have snatched it for Warrington, only for his effort to be ruled out for a fairly obvious knock-on.
“Now I can reflect on how far this club has come from well before my time,” added Peters, who replaced Tony Smith at the end of a 2022 campaign in which Rovers finished a lowly eighth and presented few signs of their imminent surge into big-match contention.
“I’m really proud of all the players and staff because it’s been a lot of hard work to get here and the players worked extremely hard to hang onto that lead.”
Warrington head coach Sam Burgess was aggrieved by the nature of Rovers’ second try, when his namesake Joe Burgess piled over just before half-time, in a melee that was sent up to the video referee as a try and duly awarded.
Burgess questioned the use of the on-field decision – which can only be overturned on clear evidence – and insisted the review had no way to overturn the try, such was the nature of the scramble.
“I don’t know how he (the referee) can send it up as a try when he doesn’t know,” said Burgess. “He had 10 looks at it but once it is sent up as a try, how do you overturn it?
“We’re all fans of the game and we all want to see a fair contest. I don’t know how you can leave it to the technology. If you can’t make a decision, you can’t make a decision – it’s too big.
“(But) it was soft, so we don’t deserve to be in the Grand Final. It’s not Premiership-winning stuff, and that’s the end of the story really. It’s not going to win us the comp so we’ve got to fix that up.”
