ON an uncharacteristically sunny, wind free day in East Hull the Saints contrived to snatch a 32-24 defeat from the jaws of victory in an alarmingly familiar way, writes Graham Henthorne.
The match started in spectacular fashion as the Saints shot into an 18 point lead in the opening 10 minutes only to finish the last 50 in the same error ridden way that they had played at Orrell the previous week.
New signing Liam Forsyth celebrated his debut in the red vee with a try on 50 seconds. The home side had spilled the kick off and third tackle out from the scrum Lewis Charnock sent a miss pass to the centre who stretched over to score in the right corner with his first touch.
Five minutes later and the Saints took advantage of another Rovers knock on to score again. Adam Saunders was on the end of a fine handling move diving in at the left corner after good work earlier in the set from Tommy Holland and Jack Ashworth.
Forsyth was in again for his second and Saints third on the next possession. Good yards from Greg Richards and Luke Thompson, who was outstanding all day, took the Saints close but it was a good offload from Ashworth which kept the play moving allowing Dom Speakman to put Forsyth clear.
A poor tackle down the middle let the home side through for their opening try but there was no sense of things to come as normal service was resumed with a well deserved try to Thompson. All four tries, three from the touchline, were majestically converted by Charnock giving the Saints a commanding lead.
The match turned on an interesting refereeing decision. Rovers were camped on the Saints line, moved the ball left only for Forsyth to intercept and begin the long 95 metre run to his hat-trick. However, the referee brought play back only to give the Saints head and feed at a scrum. There was bewilderment throughout the ground but the potential match clinching try was ruled out for Rovers to close the gap with a converted try on the stroke of the interval.
The second half started in a mirror image of the first as Saints Matt Cooke knocked the kick off on and Rovers scored within a minute.
You then really had to be there to believe how a side in such control of a game as the Saints were could change into a side barely capable of holding onto either the ball or the opposition at times. The Saints still made good metres downfield but couldn’t seem to get close enough to the line to make any dent in the now buoyant Rovers.
The home side went on to score three more tries and the unbelievable, but thoroughly deserved, comeback was complete.
Forsyth made an impressive debut, Connor Dwyer showed glimpses of his best along with Greg Richards but head and shoulders above the rest was Luke Thompson who made yards at every carry usually with numerous players on his back.
Match Summary:
Hull KR:
Tries: Josh Gudzek, Dave Harrison, Danny Kelso 2, Jack Stewart, Matty Marsh.
Goals: Matty Beharrell 4.
Saints:
Tries: Liam Forsyth 2, Adam Saunders, Luke Thompson.
Goals: Lewis Charnock 4.
Half Time: 24-12
Full Time: 24-32
Teams:
Hull KR:
1. Josh Gudzek; 5. Jack Stewart, 4. Dave Harrison, 20. Danny Kelso, 2. Macauley Hallett; 6. Matty Marsh, 7. Matty Beharrell; 8. Tom Sullivan, 9. Connor Robinson, 21. Travis Jones, 11. Sonny Esslemont, 12. Scott Ellerington, 13. Steve Holker.
Subs: 14. Marvin Lee, 15. Elliot Bulmer, 16. Aiden Armstrong, 17. Josh Hamilton.
Saints:
1. Dan Abram; 5. Ben Parry, 4. Liam Forsyth, 3. Lewis Galbraith, 2. Adam Saunders; 6. Lewis Charnock, 7. Dave Hewitt; 10. Tommy Holland, 9. Dom Speakman, 8. Greg Richards, 11. Luke Thompson, 12. Jack Ashworth, 13. Connor Dwyer.
Subs: 14. Lewis Foster, 15. Adam Hesketh, 16. Joe Ryan, 17. Matt Cooke.
