The Champions took their unbeaten record on the road to East Hull to try and secure their first away victory against Hull KR after seven successive defeats. The home side were looking to carry on where they had left off in defeating the Warriors and the Dragons, after losing the season opener to the Rhinos in a game they led on two occasions.

Few gave KR a chance against the league leaders, but from the outset the Robins players showed that they had the belief that they could get the two points and upset the bookies and the pundits.

An aggressive opening few minutes could easily have seen KR down to twelve after a Richards shoulder charge on Burns, which left the Saints half-back nursing an eye injury, but referee Child thought that a penalty was adequate. From the penalty Saints worked the ball downfield and and Wilkin collected his own deflected kick through to crash over. Burns boot made it six-nil to the visitors.

Saints were close to the KR line and looking for a second when a kick through was collected by Albert Kelly five out from his own line. The Robins half-back pushed off the first tackle and went ninety-five metres to score. Mantellato levelled the scores with a confident kick.

Six minutes after his near length of the field effort, Kelly followed it with a carbon copy, this time after intercepting a Burns pass. Another ninety-five metre effort and the most spectacular brace so far this season. Mantellato added the two for 12-6 and although somewhat against the run of play it showed a determined mentality from the home side.

On twenty-six the Saints were back on level terms after Makinson shrugged off two tackles after a high kick by Wilkin had been knocked back. Just after the half-hour Roby left the field after a knock to the head and he'd sit out the rest of the game.

Just as though it seemed the sides would go into the interval on level terms KR grabbed themselves a try when a Campese hanging kick was missed by the Saints defenders and grounded on its second bounce by Ken Sio. Mantellato missed the conversion but his side took a 16-12 lead into the break.

The opening twenty-five of the second half was dominated by KR. After missing a kickable penalty on forty-two it looked like Mantellato had scored a spectacular one-handed try by the left corner flag but the video replay ruled that he'd grounded in touch. On fifty-four he did add a two pointer after Wilkin stole the ball from Kelly and he kicked another on the hour after Richards took Campese out after the kick.

The game looked to be in the bag on sixty-four when Dixon scored on the back of two quick penalties in the Saints twenty, but despite the scoreline being 24-12, the Saints had not given up hope of maintaining their unbeaten run.

A try on seventy-five by McCarthy-Scarsbrook, converted by Burns, set up a grandstand finish and when Jordan Turner went in on the hooter the Saints were relying on the boot of Burns to secure the draw. With the last kick of the game, Burns slid the conversion wide of the uprights and the last standing one hundred percent record in Super League XX was over.

A handful of errors cost Saints, and some strong defence from the home side kept the visitors at bay where many other sides would have capitulated.

This was a great game played by two sides determined to win, and ended with some battered and bruised bodies, a couple of which will add to Kieron Cunninghams injury woes ahead of next weeks game with Wigan. Hull KR deserved the win, and with both Saints tries in the last few minutes having some suspicion of forward passes about them, the Burns miss saw justice done for KR.


Hull KR: Dixon, Mantellato, Welham, Goulding, Sio, Campese, Kelly, Walker, Lunt, Green, Horne, McCarthy, Blair. Subs: Boudebza, Donaldson, Larroyer, Ollett.

Saints: Hohaia, Makinson, Turner, Dawson, Swift, Burns, Wilkin, Amor, Roby, Walmsley, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Vea, Flanagan. Subs: Jones, Masoe, Thompson, Richards.


Referee: James Child
Attendance:?