Tweet

Winless sides eye lift-off Super League

16th February 2013

Hull KR and London Broncos will be hoping to make it third time lucky when they seek to get off the mark in Super League XVIII tomorrow.

Rovers host last year's wooden spoonists Widnes Vikings while the Broncos take on Wakefield Trinity Wildcats at the Twickenham Stoop in the last round-three fixtures of the weekend.

And although the Robins have suffered back-to-back defeats by Catalan Dragons and Wakefield, skipper Michael Dobson is confident their first win is just around the corner.

"It's not like we're getting totally outplayed or dominated in games," he said.

"When we turn up and produce what we've been working on in training then we dominate large parts of the game ourselves. We just need it do that for bigger parts of the contest and then we'll be fine.

"But we're confident and have identified the areas we need to be better in. It's now a case of putting that work into place on the pitch and getting that first win of the season on the board."

Widnes won at London in the opening round and, although they went down at home to St Helens last Sunday, coach Denis Betts is pleased with their start to the season.

"As a team we were a whole lot better against Saints than we were the week before at London and at Hull KR we will have to dig in, fight and build on the things that we've done well in our first two outings," he said.

"It's early in the season and Rovers will be well aware that they'll have to find some form soon.

"Being at home, they're probably thinking that in Widnes, they're facing a side that they can get a good result against.

"They'll come into the game with a lot of energy and enthusiasm in an attempt to get their season started and we've got to absorb that and then go another step forward in our performance and take the game back to them."

Betts brings in Steve Pickersgill to offset the loss of prop Ben Cross to suspension while centre Chris Dean, who missed last week's game through illness, returns in place of the injured Cameron Phelps.

Full-back Greg Eden is expected to make his Hull KR debut after missing the first two matches of the season with a hamstring injury, while centre Kris Welham has recovered from a broken hand.

As expected, hooker Lincoln Withers misses out after picking up a nasty gash to the head in last Saturday's defeat at Wakefield, who are set to be unchanged for the visit to London.

The Broncos are boosted by the return of half-backs Craig Gower and Michael Witt and winger Michael Robertson from injury while second rower Matt Cook is poised to make his first Super League appearance since last May after recovering from knee surgery.

Shane Grady, Mike McMeeken and Luke Dorn drop out out the team that lost at Huddersfield Giants.

Tweet

Winless sides eye lift-off Super League