Stopping Roby is the number one priority and to me that means keeping Withers at 9 for his excellent defensive qualities and then have Hodgson off the bench.

The second priority is getting on top in the forwards which to me means probably keeping Mika in the second-row though I think he'd do a great job @ 6.

The third priority is having a good kicking game which means pairing Hall with Murrell because he's one of the best kickers we have otherwise Saints will find it easy to target Hall on 5th tackle plays if he doesn't have a foil who can kick.

Other pluses to having Murrell defending next to a second-rower rower means no easy targets for Saints to run at (with Lovegrove defending next to a second-rower on the other side). Also if Murrell goes to 7 then you can put Netherton in the middle to help control the ruck and do most of the defensive work in the middle so Paea and Clinton can be kept fresher for their go-forward. Watts would be another option @ 13 but I think he'd concede penalties having not played for a while.

Of course everyone knows Murrell lacks pace but this is fairly insignificant compared to the rest of the things needed to win the game.

If we control the ruck and get a fair share of the ball then I think Saints pack will struggle.

If Roby starts finding gaps and getting away from dummy-half then we'll get beat.

I've just seen the 19-man squads and I have to say; If we don't beat them by 18+, It's because we let them win.

Netherton played today for the under 20s.

Wouldnt be surprised to see J Hodgson play some part in halves tomorrow.

The east stand erupts with the naming of Murrell in at 6.

It will be intersesting to see who Royce lines up with.

The half backs could give a surprise with Wheeler, but my money would be on Lance playing.
Royce will probably play TP and Perry as both need the matches, but last week he left out LMS as he was the fittest of the 5 props.
Our second rowers are probably the strongest part of our pack, running some good lines with the exception of flannery.

Roby has been decent, had some nice touches and really controls our defensive line.

Also Wellens at FB again, which should sure up some of the defensive weaknesses we had against Salford. That first try was a miss by Lance for mine.

Personally I'd play all 5 props this week as it's a combo we have not tried and it maybe a useful test to see how we would run with 5 big guys and one less second rower.

Anyone want to join the sweep stake on how many seconds our back on the bench will play. The good betting is zero.

Suns out over in East Hull, blazing through my windows giving the illusion of being in a nuke town mid-blast. It's still cold out, though.

Is kick-off at 3pm?

That seams to be the official kickoff time, did not realised FC where playing at home as well today. Does that make for a rough night in Hull tonight????

Doubt it, we'll get pasted and then just all go home to sulk.

Your little picture is terrifying.

Yeh but we always think we are going to win at KR, then always lose. So a win for Hull Kr would be no huge surprise.

Ducks with clothes and medals are just as terrifying. Could be a sign of the apocalypse if you see one of them wandering down your street.

Unfortunately I carnt see past a St's win today, I'm hoping were competetive and give them a good hard fight though.

Speaking of apocalypse, is anyone else seeing my Avatar in inverted colours? weird.

Ah! now we know your not keen on spidery looking things i may use this as my next avatar...

Scarey eh!

Speaking of avatars, mines disappeared...

With a full strength team I'd be very optimistic today. Without Galea, Dobson and Green I can't help but think we are on for a hiding.

Hull KR: 1. Shannon McDonnell; 2. Craig Hall, 3. Kris Welham, 4. Jake Webster, 5. David Hodgson; 13. Rhys Lovegrove, 19. Scott Murrell; 8. Joel Clinton, 14. Lincoln Withers, 23. Mickey Paea, 11. Constantine Mika, 18. Graeme Horne, 15. Liam Watts.
Subs: 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Scott Taylor, 20. Jordan Cox, 22. Scott Wheeldon.

Saints: 1. Paul Wellens; 2. Ade Gardner, 3. Michael Shenton, 5. Francis Meli, 22. Jamie Foster; 6. Lance Hohaia, 7. Jonny Lomax; 11. Tony Puletua, 9. James Roby, 14. Anthony Laffranchi, 13. Chris Flannery, 4. Sia Soliola, 12. Jon Wilkin.
Subs: 8. Josh Perry, 10. Louie McCarthy Scarsbrook, 17. Gary Wheeler, 19. Andrew Dixon.

Pity that the clock cock-up overshadowed the game. 36 each, great effort from both sides, suspect defences but I suspect that both sides will be happy with a point in the cold light of day.

I thought Murrell did a great job for us today

Yeah totally agree without both our halfbacks thought we did ok

Clockgate aside, that was one of the best 82 minutes (LOL) of rugby I have seen at MS3CP in a long long time. It seemed everytime we got to the saints line, we scored. I for one would've taken a draw before the match and will be looking forward to watching the full 80 on Hull KR TV on Tuesday!

Edited for accuracy...



Cracking game, far better than expected, after going 14 down i thought that was curtains for us but what a response from the lads.

Ps, how long have we had the rlfans live score doofer? pretty good that.

Phew!

That was a rollercoaster, at fourteen nil I feared the worst. Really entertaining game, I felt we did enough to win but a draw was probably fair.

Another mammoth effort from all the players, Mika was my MOM, but Hall really is looking good at six, yes, he is going to make two or three howling errors (concentration lapses) per game but his run to the line and pass to Mika into the gap for his second try was quality.

Big games again from Paea and Clinton, much better this week form Cox and Taylor but it's also players like Horne and Wheeldon really putting their hands up.

Very worrying injuries to Withers and Hodgson, we'll soon have no pivots what so ever.

any news on the injuries, at this rate we'll end up with Nev and Clinton in the halves

App dobbo cud ave easily bin on the