Hull KR clung on for a dramatic 10-6 win at defending champions Wigan that all but confirmed top spot in this year’s Betfred Super League after a blockbuster clash at the Brick Community Stadium.
Dean Hadley’s first-half try and six points from the boot of Rhyse Martin completed what should have been a far more handsome win for the visitors, who might have been punished after Adam Keighran reduced the deficit late on.
The defending champions had barely had a sniff throughout a one-sided encounter but as the seconds ticked down, it required a pair of heroic tackles from Elliot Minchella and Tom Davies to confirm victory for Willie Peters’ men.
It means Rovers now hold a virtually unassailable six-point lead with just five games left in the regular season and must now be strong favourites to go on and wrap up a domestic treble with their first Grand Final win in October.
Dean Hadley scored Hull KR’s only try of the match
It was a mark of Wigan’s resilience that Rovers only chiselled an eight-point lead at the break, thanks to Hadley’s 10th-minute opener and a conversion, and two penalties from Martin, as the hosts continued to struggle without their talismanic half-back Bevan French.
Keighran stepped in in the absence of both French and Jack Farrimond, while Rovers too featured a patched-up spine, with Arthur Mourgue continuing to deputise for the suspended Tyrone May.
Hadley’s opener off Mourgue’s short pass capped a dominant opening phase and promised more, Kelepi Tanginoa and Jack Broadbent both galloping deep into home territory and only some desperate shirt-tail tackling from Harry Smith denying Rovers a second through Joe Burgess.
Rovers were denied a penalty try on 35 minutes despite an obstruction from Wigan skipper Liam Farrell, who was duly sin-binned, and the visitors were forced to settle for two more points from Martin’s resulting penalty.
A tetchy start to the second half failed to help Wigan’s cause as they temporarily lost both Keighran and Tyler Dupree to head injury assessments, the latter after a clash with Jaerea-Hargreaves, who appeared lucky to escape punishment.
But despite being gifted plenty of opportunities by their careless hosts, Rovers continued to fail to find the key to unlock the Wigan back-line and score the second try that would surely have made the game safe.
Instead, after Burgess dropped a good chance on the left flank, it fell to Martin again to nudge his side into double figures after Kruise Leeming was penalised in the tackle 25 yards out.
Wigan were handed a lifeline with seven minutes to go when Burgess spilled Smith’s high kick and Keighran crossed in virtually their first chance of the second half before converting to haul his side within four at 10-6.
Amid increasing tension, Wigan sought vainly to fashion a great escape, but some big Rovers tackles kept them out, and the final hooter sparked wild celebrations among the Rovers players and their massed ranks of fans behind the posts.
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