Rovers return to winning ways

Hull KR gave the best response to their demolition by St Helens as they recorded an impressive 24-6 win over the Catalan Dragons.

Rovers' head coach Justin Morgan kept the faith in nearly the same squad which got hammered 68-12 by the Saints in their last Super League outing and it paid dividends, as they reaped their rewards for some rear-guard solidarity.

Kiwi centre Jake Webster made a return for Rovers with Matt Cook dropping out of the squad.

Liam Colbon was scheduled to return after a broken jaw, but the luckless winger suffered a medial ligament injury in training allowing Ben Cockayne to continue his run on the left wing.

Dream start

It was Rovers who got off to a dream start in the second minute when Joel Clinton charged down a Catalans kick, centre Kris Welham made the break and found Ben Galea who ran 20 metres to touch down. Michael Dobson converted.

The Dragons forced Rovers into some desperate defence and, in the seventh minute, David Ferriol was held up over the home line before Mick Vella relieved the pressure with a strong run.

The home side weathered the storm and increased their lead in the 19th minute when Scott Murrell's short ball found Welham and the centre burst through from short range to score, with Dobson again adding the extra two points.

The Dragons frittered away several chances through spilling the ball and, as the break approached, a Galea kick for Rovers was hacked on by Dobson and Shaun Briscoe narrowly failed to reach the ball to touch down.

Second-half

Despite being under pressure for a lot of the half and seeing less of the ball than the French side, Rovers still turned round with a 12-0 lead.

After absorbing more Dragons pressure, it was Rovers who increased their lead with 51 minutes gone when Murrell took a pass from Liam Watts to score, with Dobson landing his third conversion.

The Dragons cut the deficit on 56 minutes when Sebastien Raguin went over in the left corner and Thomas Bosc landed the conversion from wide out.

Setaimata Sa and Clinton clashed in the 64th minute and the incident was put on report by referee Ian Smith as tempers got a little heated.

The match was wrapped up in the 77th minute when Michael Dobson picked up a loose ball and raced 90 metres to score before converting his own try.