Fc better on the night, bit disapointed but showed some spirit & did not give up. At least no contentious referee descisions. 1 game each & one more to come.

Yep only one team in it to be fair. Bit like Easter lol

They usually do. The best side winning, I mean.

When we won 5 from 6 in 2008 and 2009, we were halfway decent and Hull were plop. When they picked up a bit under Gentle and we were relying on potential and erratic talent, they had the better of the derbies. This season they've gone with form again, pretty clearly.

The 'out-enthused', 'they just wanted it more', 'derbies rarely go to form' stuff ismore often about trying to make it feel more of an aberration, and that [ireally[/i your defeated team is still the best of the two.
Right now we aren't, but we get another go later in the season, and we need to start picking up some wins between now and then.

Hopefully we'll have a couple of bodies back for Cas and Widnes - those are really pivotal games for Rovers.

Deserved win for the dark side. They totally outplayed and outmuscled us save for the 15 minute purple patch midway through the second half. We never looked like winning as they had the desire and intensity from the start.

The ruck area was a real issue and Ben Cockayne's errors were costly. Looks ominous for the remaining games unless we can get Shaun Lunt and some of the big guys back soon.

Hull played well, we didn't, no excuses.

To be honest i do not think they would have beat us with our best starting 17 but if they did it would have been close we did not have a front row at all, but i was pleased to see they did not give up not like the team of old, please get bodies back has soon has possible

Obviously with everybody fit, we'd have a better front row, by extension a stronger bench, more options in the backrow and a more natural looking 1-7.

But Hull do have a very strong pack. Our weakness in that area may have exaggerated it, but even when they were struggling they made metres and just lacked a cutting edge. Even when we beat them pretty comfortably at the KC, I vaguely recall Radford saying they made more metres. Plus they've mostly been pretty good in defence. Chuck in a bit of confidence and a bit more fluency in attack, and right now, on form, they're top 6 quality.
They'll do well to finish that high, because of their slow start - but if they carry on like this, avoiding too many injuries, it's not that unlikely.

Equally, the wheels might come off again. We know all about slow starts, picking up form mid season, then things petering out disappointingly from Sandercock's time in charge. We've compressed all of that in to half a season so far!

Metres yesterday:
Hull: 1540
Rovers: 1101

Easter:
Hull: 1464
Rovers: 1362

Who won the scrap that broke out amongst the KR fans?

Won't have been us, we lost every battle yesterday.

Our season average metres is 1190 per game. On average, the opposition gain 1406. We have even managed 2 wins in spite of conceding more metres. In the long run though, we can't concede so much yardage and expect to succeed.

Do you mean the one that started with the tanked up Hull fan throwing a bottle into a woman's face?

Tells its own story. Close to parity in go forward and we've every chance. Battered up front, then we haven't.

We're third bottom for metres made so far this season (although, in fairness with a game in hand on a few teams). Hull are 5th. Dunno if they've been updated for yesterday.

It's a stat the reflect league position reasonably well, although I was surprised to see Widnes as high as second.

Aye, you can defy those odds occasionally - the win against saints springs to mind.
But it's near impossible to do it regularly.

It do think there's plenty of positives to be taken from the start of Chester's reign. One concern would be that even even with Tilse and Walker in there, we'd compete better in this area, but we'd rarely dominate. Stem the tide down the middle and hit them out wide can work, but even when it does it feels a bit like we're fighting off the backfoot.

Fans are only happy when they're winning and I'm sure I'd moan if a heavy, leaden footed pack and back line lacking ideas were having rings run around them. But one or two aggressive, hard running forwards would be a nice complement to what we've got.

Hull looked to strong for us, easy metres and easy off loads all game, I think our big weakness even when at full strength is our back row , whereas it's one of Hull's strong points.

Credit to Hull FC, They can only beat what was put in front of them. They muscled up in the pack and battered us down the middle, We'll hopefully start getting some bodies back over the next few weeks, particularly some of our big men. We've been playing well at home and hopefully that will continue on Friday.

Our home form has been excellent, but we will need to win all our remaining home games, plus 1 from the 3 away games (Salford/Hudds/Sts) to get in the 8 from here I think.

I don't see us winning all 5 home games either, the Wire one may be a loss as we have 1 eye on the cup the week after.

It's been so long since we played at home, I don't know if it will deliver the same advantage to us anymore for the upcoming games. The reason is that our injuries have forced us into a defensive mindset, where we look to absorb pressure and play on the counter. Fine if we absorb that pressure, but not so good if we don't from the outset like yesterday, make silly errors and we end up chasing the game.

Cas will present another Hull Fc like challenge next Friday so without a change of attitude, game plan and starting 17, look away now.

All the teams we are playing in June are hitting good form (except the Wire) and none of them are a given. So if you think the game against Wire may be a loss Stan, then I think we might all be blubbing after losses to Cas and Widnes as well.

I even challenge some of my fellow posters who were pleased when we drew Cats at home in the CC Qtr Final and thought at the time that we were a shoe in far a semi spot to maintain the same optimism. Cats are on a roll. Things are suddenly looking bleak.

However, as I am a glass half full fella, I predict high intensity and ruthlessly efficient performances from the boys and 4 out of 4 wins in June.

I don't think anyone (other than JTP on a trolling mission) thinks we are a semi shoe in. However, given the other prospects on offer, possibly only home ties against Leigh or Widnes could have presented us with a better opportunity. Form & fitness between now & June 25 will no doubt be the deciding factor.

June is without a shadow of a doubt the season defining moment for us, especially if the Salford game gets thrown in on 30th.

At least the chance of playing against Carney is very minimal now. But as a few have said on here. June is THE month that we have perform, no if's or but's.
Ive never known us be so injured, and all long term, all at the same time. Is this just really bad luck??
Listening to Chester's interview after the game. There's a chance Salter, Kelly and Lunt might be good to go. But how many times we heard that before.

Couldn't see how it started, but it seemed to conclude with KR fans fighting amongst themselves. Or at least it was amongst the KR fans. What actually happened?

[iIt seemed to?[/i

In a similar vein, your coach [iseemed to [/iaim homophobic abuse from the stands yesterday.

What did he actually say?

Cracking day and result (and TP didn't score), really thought it worked well in Newcastle, had some great banter and chats with Rovers fans after the game.

Thought Campese was a class act.

how to avoid answering a question? Ask a completely different one!

There was some great banter agreed. The Strawberry was amazing when we were in just prior to the 1st game. I thought the whole weekend showed the RL family in a good light to a bewildered city.

Campese was quiet behind a hammered pack. You just steamrollered us from the off and it's something I'm sick of seeing these last 2 months.