It was a tense afternoon. In the bar before hand, nervous pints and halves
were being forcibly shoved down tightened throats as we all agreed that,
despite the tension, games like this one are what we're all in it for.
And it was a tense start to the game. Rovers sent in the artillery, their big pack making inroads up the centre of the pitch, giving Craig Murdock the space to push a neat grubber behind the Hornets lines. Walker dived in, the Sandy Lane stand went up, but the main stand breathed easier as the touch judge stood off. Minutes later, Matt Calland punched out whilst in posession on the first tackle. Chris Charles sliced the penalty which failed to go dead. Not the best start for Hornets, but they found an opening on 15 minutes. Rovers' prop Wilson coughed the ball in Hornets' 20m zone. Andy Ireland gathered, Watto fed Danny Wood. Woody showed great balance, skating through a gap, brushing off tacklers and, with open field beckoning, gobbled up the yards before floating a long pass to Cooper who ran through Alex Godfrey to score a quite breathtaking try.
But Rovers dug in. Camped for long periods in Hornets last quarter of the field, repeated sets of six thwarted by some exceptional scrambling defence. On half an hour the pressure told. Aston took the ball into a seemingly dying tackle, only to smuggle it out to to Walker who obliged with the four pointer.
The half was played out as it had been played. Hull KR full of purpose, but little penetration. Murdock shepherding his troops around the field, teasing and taunting the Hornets defence with a mixture of grubbers and bombs - one of which was uncharateristically dropped by Marlon Billy, who made amends almost immediately by shunting the gathering Matt Schultz into touch by the flag.
Half time 4-all and Gary Wilkinson the happier of the two coaches I imagine. But whatever Martin Hall said at half time worked. Hornets emerged for the second half more focused, more detemined.
Five minutes in Hornets stamped
their authority on the game. Wood again opening up a retreating Rovers
defence, Robinson linking up and creating space out on the left, his long
pass finding Billy who skinned Matt Schultz to score the try that equalled
the club's try scoring record and brought the stand to its feet.
Rovers stuck to their gameplan, big forward drives, Murdock coaxing and probing. But where it had worked in the first half, they found it more difficult to gain yards in the second. Hornets' defence forced them into errors and, on attack, Danny Wood was playing with the confidence that puts tacklers on the back foot.
On the hour Hornets capitalised, opting to carry the ball on the last tackle. Calland ghosted past his opposite number, Sculthorpe took the pass and worked a huge hole for James Bunyan to score. Woody converted and Rovers were shellshocked.
From almost the next foray into Rovers territory, Hornets struck again - Scully showing poise and a cool head to slam home a drop goal from 40 metres. And at 15-4 the Robins were rocking. Five minutes later. Steve Gartland, as always taking Hornets forward with his direct style, bamboozled a static Rovers defence, his neat pass finding Danny Wood who capped a man-of-the- match performance with a try by the posts. Woody converted, the Hornets fans sang 'Barry Eaton says you'll win it' and at 21-4 Rovers were gone.
Forget
Latham Tawhai's slack pass that gifted Taewa a shoo-in interception. Forget
Slater's try in the corner. These were scant consolation for Rovers who found
Hornets too hot to handle in the second half and, with a closing score of
21- 14, they can feel flattered.
Martin Hall knows that we rode our luck a bit, especially in the first half. Once again, too much dropped ball, too many daft penalties, too many forced passes. Good sides would love that. But I can't criticise too greatly. In knockout football, one point's enough to be the best and Hornets did show that we're capable of hanging in there when the going gets tough.
In a game where everyone made a vital contribution, our man of the match is Danny Wood.
We've been saying for weeks that, if he showed the confidence to take people on, he'd come out on top. He's a big, rangy lad with good hands and a neat turn of pace and he showed yesterday what he's capable of when he believes in himself as much as we do. Class.
So, Hornets juggernaut rolls on. We put a ban on using the 'O'-word yesterday, but there's no denying that next Sunday's semi against Oldham is a mouth-watering prospect. Games don't come much bigger at this level and it's the chance to put the icing on what's been an astonishing season.