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3 days ago
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Hull KR secured their first Super League title in spectacular fashion with a stunning display to dethrone Wigan Warriors and complete the treble. They had not won a major trophy for 40 years before this season, but their victory in the Challenge Cup final has proven to be the catalyst for the greatest season in their history.
They went on to finish top of Super League but were still considered underdogs against a Wigan side seeking to win the title for the third successive year. However, the Robins were magnificent and showed why they are now the premier side in the British game to become the first new champions of Super League for more than two decades.
They are only the fifth club to win the Grand Final, with Leeds the last team to win it for the first time all the way back in 2004. There can be no complaints about the outcome, with Rovers sensational when it mattered most: producing the kind of display Wigan have done in the biggest games in recent years.
The contest could and perhaps should have taken a very different outlook in the first half, but for some rare profligacy from the Warriors. Chances are few and far between in games like these and Wigan spurned not one, but two glorious opportunities to break the deadlock.
Their captain, Liam Farrell, dropped the ball with the line beckoning after a superb pass from Bevan French, before French then produced a knock-on as he attempted to ground a Liam Marshall kick. There was a fair argument to say it should have been 12-0 to Wigan and with their record in finals that would have been commanding.
But the game swung on a pivotal moment as Brad O’Neill was sent to the sin-bin for the Warriors after a dangerous tackle on Tyrone May. Within two minutes, Hull KR went ahead as the outstanding Mikey Lewis cut through to score between the posts.
It would get even better, too. With O’Neill still off the field the Robins went further in front as a fine passage of play led to the former Wigan winger Joe Burgess touching down in the corner. Rhyse Martin missed the conversion but suddenly, the reigning champions were scrambling.
A penalty from Adam Keighran on the stroke of half-time got Wigan on the board and when Harry Smith scored shortly after the restart, a Warriors comeback appeared to be on the cards. But Hull KR quelled it as a penalty from Martin nudged their lead back out to six points.
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As the hour mark approached, so, too, did the moment that etched Hull KR’s place into immortality. They kept their composure under pressure and Jez Litten started and finished a wonderful move to make it 18-6.
That was a margin that always felt enough in a game of this magnitude and the Robins held firm to secure their place among the game’s all-time great sides, with Burgess claiming his second in the final two minutes to clinch the title.
