Hull KR 22-12 London: KR bounce back to beat Broncos
Last Updated: 17/02/19 6:07pm
Hull KR bounced back from their defeat at Warrington to beat the London Broncos 22-12 at KCOM Craven Park.
Tim Sheens' side trailed 6-4 at half-time but three tries in the second half gave the Robins back-to-back home wins to start their season while London suffered their second successive away defeat after losing 24-0 at Salford.
Rovers started brightly and registered the game's first try in the fourth minute following a London error 15 metres from their own line. Kane Linnett spun his way over the whitewash with two Broncos trying unsuccessfully to stop him. Josh Drinkwater's conversion hit the left hand upright to leave Rovers leading 4-0.
It was a short-lived lead as the visitors responded quickly with a ninth-minute try. James Cunningham broke a tackle and sent second rower Matthew Gee over for the score. Kieran Dixon's conversion gave the Broncos a 6-4 lead.
An incorrect play-the-ball by London in the 30th minute 10 metres from their own line went unpunished as a forward pass on the first tackle from the resulting penalty halted the home side's attack. It was a passage of play that summed up the first half as neither side handled the ball well and came up with unforced errors close to the opposition's try line.
Rovers came close to ending the first half with a try when Danny McGuire's grubber kick two minutes before half-time was fumbled by Junior Vaivai in the in-goal area with team-mate Linnett going for the same ball.
Hull KR regained the lead three minutes into the second half when Mitch Garbutt powered his way over the line from McGuire's pass close to the Broncos line. Drinkwater made no mistake with the conversion to give his side a 10-6 lead.
It was soon followed by Rovers' third try of the game with Craig Hall this time going over after Vaivai's pass created the opening for the winger to score. Hall took the conversion instead of Drinkwater and sent the kick through the posts to extend the home side's lead to 16-6.
Mose Masoe played a bit part in Rovers' fourth try in the 55th minute with a great offload to the supporting Garbutt who stretched the ball over the try line for his second score of the game. Hall again added the extras to extend Rovers' advantage to 22-6.
Eloi Pelissier was shown a yellow card for his high tackle on Rovers full-back Will Dagger who was trying to gather the restart but Sheens' side failed to make their extra man pay during the 10 minutes the Frenchman was in the sin bin.
On his return to the action, Pelissier almost created a try for Will Lovell, but the Broncos' second row forward was unable to ground the hooker's kick cleanly.
The last score went to London with seven minutes remaining. Jordan Abdull's kick through bounced kindly for Jay Pitts to ground the ball for the visitors' second try of the game. Dixon's conversion left the final score 22-12.
