The Robins turned in a disappointing display as they lost out to a resurgent Warrington side, and lost Chev Walker to injury in the process.

The Robins travelled to the Halliwell Jones Stadium in search of their fourth successive Super League win, against a Warrington side struggling to hit form, but now led by England boss Tony Smith. Paul Cooke made his return from injury in the Reserve Grade side 24 hours earlier, so Chaz I'Anson continued to deputise at stand-off. Following an excellent performance the week before, Scott Wheeldon kept his starting spot, with Makali Aizue and Stanley Gene moving onto the bench in place of Jake Webster and Jason Netherton.

The Robins had the better of the early exchanges at a blustery Halliwell Jones, but fell behind to a try from Ben Harrison in only the sixth minute. A penalty awarded for interference handed the Wolves a repeat set in the Rovers quarter, and Harrison sneaked over from close range, Chris Hicks converting. The Red and Whites wasted no time in mounting a response though, with Michael Dobson's kicking game forcing back-to-back drop outs from the home side but without reward.

The two sides were matching each other play for play as the game flowed from end to end, with both full-backs being given thorough examinations under the high ball, and mid-way through the half, the Robins thought they'd cancelled out the Wolves' advantage. A delicate little grubber close to the Warrington line found space, but Daniel Fitzhenry couldn't pick up the ball cleanly and the chance was gone. Instead, Rovers were almost caught out by a sucker punch, as the Wolves kept the ball alive on the last, but Chris Hicks was held up by a host of orange and grey shirts as he cut inside.

However, with ten minutes to go to the break, the Robins weren't so lucky. Again it was on the last tackle, and with the Rovers defence anticipating a kick, they rushed up on Michael Monaghan, only for the scrum half to step away from the pressure and slip over. Hicks hooked his conversion wide, but on the hooter, the Wolves struck again. Lee Briers spread the ball wide, and Paul Johnson escaped the attentions of an on-rushing Chev Walker to go over wide out. Hicks added the extras with the last kick of the half, to leave the Robins 16 points down without having put the home side's defence under pressure.

Half-Time: Warrington Wolves 16      Hull KR 0

After matching the home side in just about everything apart from the scoreboard, the Robins needed a much-improved second half performance if they were to come away with the win. Early on, the signs were promising, as the Red and Whites carved out a couple of opportunities, only for their handling to let them down. After he had put Ben Galea through with a little inside ball, Michael Dobson sold a dummy and slipped another ball inside to Rhys Lovegrove, but under pressure, the ball went to ground.

The Wolves came roaring back though, running the Robins off their feet as the home fans got behind their team and the momentum swung their side's way. The Red and Whites' hopes of getting anything from the game were fading fast, and they were dealt a double blow, as the hour mark approached. First Chev Walker was forced off the field with a serous-looking shoulder injury, and then Lee Briers' chip put Paul Johnson over.

Rovers needed a score fast, and as ever, it was Michael Dobson who was the architect, taking Rhys Lovegrove's offload before kicking low to the corner, where the ball was touched down by a flying Peter Fox. Dobson added the extras from the touchline, and within a minute, the Robins were back on the Wolves line again, but as they kept the ball alive, Dobson's long ball appeared to be deflected off Simon Grix's hand, but the tackle count was not restarted, and aided by a penalty, the Wolves went the full length of the field in the next set, with Matt King touching down Briers' cross-kick.

That finished the contest, however Rovers were not going to go out quietly - A rampaging Makali Aizue blasting his way through three Wolves tacklers before showing Chris Riley a clean pair of heels to go in from 30 metres, with Dobson adding the extras. There was no time for another score though, as the Robins paid the penalty for a flat performance, which left coach Justin Morgan less than impressed with his charges.

"We were poor, very poor today - discipline was way below the standards we've set for ourselves, our error count was extremely high today. We gifted them a lot of ball, and we were most probably never really in the game, even though, if we'd put some back-to-back sets together, we could have got back in the game, but not today," Morgan said.

"We just rallied in spits and spats today. One of our attributes over the last month has been that we've been putting back-to-back sets of six together and playing consistently well for periods of the game - today that wasn't to be. We were very spasmodic with our ball control and when I go back and look at the action areas of the day, they'll be littered with errors and poor discipline at times."

And the news on Chev Walker was not much better, as Morgan confirmed that the centre could be in line for a long spell on the sidelines.

"It looks like he's got some separation of the shoulder. He's off to the hospital, but it doesn't look good at this stage. It's hard to say at this stage whether it's dislocated or not, but the doctor said it seemed to be in a reasonable shape that he heard something go, so disappointing for Chev."

Full-Time: Warrington Wolves 24      Hull KR 12

Hull KR: 28. Ben Cockayne; 2. Peter Fox, 3. Chev Walker, 19. Kris Welham, 5. Liam Colbon; 21. Chaz I'Anson, 7. Michael Dobson; 8. Nick Fozzard, 15. Daniel Fitzhenry, 18. Scott Wheeldon; 11. Clint Newton, 12. Ben Galea, 13. Scott Murrell.

Replacements: 14. Stanley Gene, 17. Makali Aizue, 9. Ben Fisher, 24. Rhys Lovegrove.

Warrington: 19. Chris Riley; 23. Chris Hicks, 20. Simon Grix, 2. Paul Johnson, 4. Matt King; 3. Martin Gleeson, 7. Michael Monaghan; 8. Adrian Morley, 14. Mickey Higham, 10. Paul Rauhihi; 11. Louis Anderson, 13. Vinnie Anderson, 24. Ben Harrison.

Replacements: 9. Jon Clarke, 15. Paul Wood, 6. Lee Briers, 18. Mike Cooper.