Weakened Wigan thrashed by Hull KR in final tune-up

ByAdam Lanigan

BBC Sport England

Betfred Super League

Hull KR (42) 62

Tries: Lewis 3, Davies, Litten, Whitbread, Martin, Hadley, Booth, Broadbent, Luckley Goals: Martin 9

Wigan (0) 4

Try: Lowe

Hull Kingston Rovers moved up to second in Super League as the champions thrashed a weakened Wigan Warriors side.

Wigan head coach Matt Peet left out all his regulars before the Challenge Cup final against the same opponents at Wembley on 30 May.

The Warriors side included 10 debutants - seven in the starting line-up and three interchanges - and they were no match for a strong Hull KR side.

The champions ran in seven unopposed tries in the first half and four more after the break, while winger Nathan Lowe's score in his first game was Wigan's sole try.

Willie Peters' side went above Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves on points difference, and are now only two adrift of leaders St Helens.

Wigan remain sixth after this fifth defeat of their Super League season.

After three months of the season, the fixture list had kept apart last season's top two until this, the 12th round of the competition.

With the Challenge Cup immediately after, this had looked like two intriguing games in quick succession - in a burgeoning rivalry that has included the past two Grand Finals, with Wigan sweeping all before them in 2024 and Hull KR doing likewise last year.

But the news on Tuesday of Peet's squad for this game effectively sacrificed two league points and dampened the prospect of a rip-roaring encounter.

Only veteran prop Patrick Mago was involved from the matchday squad in the win over Leeds last time out and he began on the bench.

The starting line-up had a combined 67 Super League appearances between them and an average age of 20.18, with 19-year-old loose forward Taylor Kerr captaining the side.

But the likes of star full-back Jai Field, scrum-half Harry Smith and centre pairing Adam Keighran and Jake Wardle all had the night off.

That was in contrast to the Robins, who had 14 of the 17 on duty from their last game as they built on the momentum of eight successive wins in league and cup after a slow start to the season.

Mikey Lewis helped himself to an easy hat-trick inside 18 minutes to make sure the result was never in doubt, with the other first half scores coming from Tom Davies, Jez Litten, Jai Whitbread and Rhyse Martin.

Wigan's only moment of joy came just after the restart when Hull KR lost possession and Lowe went over half the length of the field to touch down.

One-way traffic resumed after that as the home side completed the scoring with tries from Dean Hadley, Noah Booth, Jack Broadbent and Sam Luckley.

The only concern for head coach Peters was a possible injury to forward Hadley as he limped off late in the second half.

Hull KR: Broadbent; Davies, Hiku, Gildart, Booth; Lewis, Hampshire; Sue, Lawton, Hadley, Whitbread, Martin, Minchella.

Interchanges: Litten, Amone, Luckley, Brown.

Wigan: Cartwright; Lowe, F Yeomans, O'Loughlin, Daniel; Marsden, C Yeomans; Eseh, Forber, McDermott, Daniels, Mason, Kerr.

Interchanges: Mago, McMillan, O'Connor, Rathbone.

Referee: Aaron Moore