MORGAN SALUTES ROVERS DEFENSIVE ATTITUDE
Rovers Head Coach Justin Morgan paid tribute to his side's defensive attitude as they kept Salford pointless on the way to booking a place in the Carnegie Challenge Cup quarter-final.
The Robins built on their recent improvements in defence to shut out the City Reds on their own patch despite coming under plenty of pressure at different points throughout the eighty minutes.
And with Blake Green, Ben Cockayne, Kris Welham and Jake Webster crossing the whitewash the red and whites ran out comfortable 25-0 victors.
"I thought we scrambled really well defensively," said Morgan after the game.
"They're a team that throw lots at you. Matty Smith and Holdsworth are offensively very good players.
"I thought we really laid the platform in the first half. Even though we went in only six points up I thought we played great field position and I thought our energy levels would be a lot higher than theirs because they had to do a lot more work than us and as you can see we got the spoils towards the back end of the game.
"Certainly in the second half they were pressing our half more than we were in their end but again, we scrambled fantastically defensively.
"I thought both our edges defended really well. They shut down the play really well and I've got to give some credit to Andrew Webster who has been doing a lot of work with our edges, especially defensively and I thought they really bought into what he's been showing them in the last couple of weeks.
"It's always good to have good staff around you and he and Chris Chester have both played a huge part in today's win. They've been working very hard and I'm glad the players bought into it.
"Our kick chase was phenomenal. When we kicked the ball, at a time in the first half I counted twelve guys across the line. We brought a real good attitude defensively today."
Morgan has special praise for his props and believes had the Robins been as clinical as at other stages this season then they could have won the game even more comfortably.
"We won by 25 points but we probably made two or three other clear line breaks that we didn't convert properly," admitted the Australian.
"A little bit unusual for us because we're usually clinical with the ball but I'll take that defensive display any day of the week.
"That's what won us the game and they really played for each other tonight so I'm really pleased and proud of them.
"They (Salford) made some errors with the ball but I thought we forced a lot of errors today with our defence.
"I thought Joel Clinton played very strongly off the bench for us and probably had his strongest game for a number of weeks which was good to see him finding some form. It's great for him and Mick Vella playing well in tandem as the two senior players on the field at different stages.
"I thought Scott Wheeldon was strong again today, particularly his first stint laid a really good platform for us in the middle.
"I thought the first half was frantic. There were no tries apart from the one just before half-time and that naturally makes the game fast and I thought there were plenty of big hits out there."
Morgan left the last word with the defensive effort of his team and believes the performance was characteristic of what Hull KR have become known for.
"We've leaked some points, we've leaked some tries. But with defence it's not something you can just snap into and fix overnight.
"We obviously recognised fairly on in the Super League season that there were some issues with our defence and we've made sure the training content has been weighed heavily in the favour of defence.
"I thought tonight was the culmination of a number of weeks, if not months, of continuously working hard in defence. I thought we played with a great spirit today.
"You saw the Hull Kingston Rovers that we're renowned for. One that plays with spirit and passion, and they certainly played for each other."
Posted on 21, May, 2011
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