| Leigh Centurions (6) 6 |
| Try: Russell Goal: Brierley |
| Hull KR (10) 44 |
| Tries: Crooks, Vete, Takairangi, Parcell, Hall, Keinhorst, Storton, Keyes Goals: Keyes 6 |
Hull KR kept their hopes of reaching the Super League play-offs alive with victory over relegated Leigh Centurions to round off the Magic Weekend.
Matty Russell put the Centurions ahead against the run of play, but Ben Crooks and Albert Vete replied to help Rovers into a 10-6 lead at the break.
Brad Takairangi, Matt Parcell and Ryan Hall all crossed to settle the Robins’ nerves after restart.
Leigh tired late on as Jimmy Keinhorst, Matty Storton and Joe Keyes scored.
Three successive defeats had damaged Hull KR’s top-six hopes, and Tony Smith’s side must win their final two matches against Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos to have a chance of snatching a play-off place.
The opening quarter in Newcastle was a tale of a stern Leigh defence absorbing pressure but, after Iain Thornley fed Russell to score in the corner, two tries in four minutes saw the Robins come from behind.
The Centurions had carried out 191 tackles in the first half to 93 by their opponents, and a sharper start to the second half swung the game in favour of Rovers.
Leigh conceded territory after failing to deal with a high spinning kick-off, and Hall created a score for Takairangi.
After Purcell showed remarkable strength to hold off several Leigh defenders and crawl over, Hall acrobatically touched down in the corner for his 15th try of the campaign.
Hull KR put the gloss on the scoreline in the closing stages, with Crooks gifting stand-off Keyes his first try of the season, as Leigh were consigned to a third successive defeat.
However, Hull KR face bigger battles in the next fortnight – starting with the visit of Castleford on Saturday.
Leigh coach Kurt Haggerty:
“We are just not up to it and haven’t been up to it all year. Especially in second halves, we fall away.
“We just can’t seem to stop the rot once it starts.
“Ultimately we haven’t performed enough as a group to stay up.”
Hull KR coach Tony Smith told BBC Radio Humberside:
“It is probably the game we needed. In the last few weeks we have not been at our best and a little bit flat.
“To have a performance like that and work our way back into form will do us good.
“Whilst we did not score a lot of points in the early part of the game, I was really pleased with our patience.
“We built our game, and it was a very pleasing win.”
Leigh: Brand, Russell, Thornley, Sa’u, Elliott, Mellor, Brierley, Gerrard, Hood, Sidlow, Hellewell, Stone, Bell.
Interchanges: Thompson, Mullen, Foster, Whitbread.
Hull KR: Dagger, Crooks, Minikin, Kenny-Dowell, Hall, Keyes, Lewis, King, Parcell, Maher, Takairangi, Linett, Storton.
Interchanges: Vete, Litten, Johnson, Keinhorst.
Referee: Marcus Griffiths.
