The pre-match hype for the season opener for Hull KR and Wigan Warriors had focussed on the meeting between the most and least experienced coaches in Super League as Tony Smith´s Robins came up against a Warriors side under the new stewardship of Matt Peet who has stepped up after previously being Wigan Academy coach and first team assistant under the mentorship of Shaun Wane.
Both sides made the play-offs last season, Wigan from fourth and KR from sixth and both sets of supporters were relishing the chance to get a benchmark for the season ahead in front of a big home crowd at Craven Park and the Sky Sports cameras.
Wigan drew first blood, but it was thanks to a defensive mistake. A Cade Cust high kick wasn´t collected by the KR defence and Jake Bibby was on hand to pick up the loose ball and run five metres to score. Jai Field added the conversion for a 6-0 lead after ten minutes and Ian Thornley was helped off the field with a nasty looking ankle injury.
On seventeen minutes KR got their just rewards for some enterprising play and determination when Mikey Lewis threw a dummy, went through the gap, and then ran in on the angle from thirty metres out. Jordan Abdull missed with his attempted touchline conversion.
A sensational Wigan try on twenty-five extended their lead. A great fifty metre kick from Cust cleared the KR defence and a sprinting Field collected on the first bounce and outpaced the chasing Lachlan Coote to score by the left upright. Field pulled what looked to be a simple kick wide of the uprights.
Liam Marshall scored another superb Wigan try on thirty-four as Field diffused a bomb on his own line and found Jake Bibby who made twenty metres before he offloaded to Marshall to go eighty down the wing, evading the chasing Ryan Hall, to cross in the corner. Field missed another conversion.
From the kick-off Wigan were in again when another Cust high kick was fumbled by Sam Wood and picked up by Bibby to run in the four pointer. Field was again wide with his conversion attempt, the Warriors taking an 18-4 lead into the sheds.
The sides were locked together for the first twenty minutes of the second half until Liam Marshall got his second on the back of a penalty as the ball went through half a dozen sets of hands before finding the winger on a small overlap to go in. Zak Hardaker took over the kicking duties and duly popped it between the sticks from the touchline.
Hull KR nicked a try on seventy-four with a lucky bounce from a Coote grubber into the hands of Matt Parcell to score from close range. Abdull added the conversion to put Wigan into double figures.
Despite it being close in the early exchanges, once the Warriors hit their straps there was no looking back as they raced into an unassailable lead. There was plenty of effort from the Robins but they made too many defensive errors and couldn´t find a way through a solid Wigan defence. Cust looks handy with the boot in open play for Wigan and despite not being on target with the boot Field also looks like he might be a handful in 2022.
Hull KR: Coote, Wood, Takairangi, Kenny-Dowall, Hall, Lewis (T), Abdull, Vete, Litten, King, Linnett, Storton, Sims. Subs: Parcell, Keinhorst, Richards, Halton.
Wigan Warriors: Field (T, G), Marshall (2T), Pearce-Paul, Bibby (2T), Cust, Leuluai, Singleton, Powell, Ellis, Farrell, Bateman, Isa. Subs: Hardaker (G), Mago, Smithies, Byrne.
Half-Time: 4-18.
Full-Time: 10-24.
Score Progression: 0-4, 0-6, 4-6, 4-10, 4-14, 4-18 : HT : 4-22, 4-24, 8-24, 10-24 : FT .
Attendance: 9,044.
Referee: James Child.
