Hull KR win derby to close on League Leaders' Shield

Betfred Super League

Hull KR (4) 18

Tries: Booth, Litten, Broadbent, Davies Goal: Mourgue

Hull FC (0) 4

Try: Briscoe

Hull KR are on the brink of winning the League Leaders' Shield after defeating city rivals Hull FC in a ferocious local derby.

Tries from Noah Booth, Jez Litten and Jack Broadbent sent Rovers into a 14-point lead and although Tom Briscoe's late score gave the visitors some hope, Tom Davies wrapped up an 18-4 victory.

A sixth consecutive derby win for Rovers means it would take an unlikely set of results in the final two rounds of fixtures to prevent them finishing top of Super League after 27 games.

Willie Peters' side would need to lose both of their remaining fixtures against Wakefield and Warrington, while second-placed Wigan would need to beat Castleford and Leeds - as well as overturning a points difference that is currently 113 points in Hull KR's favour.

After winning the Challenge Cup for the first time since 1980 in June, a second trophy of the season is almost within their grasp.

As for Hull FC, defeat leaves them a point behind sixth-placed Wakefield, who occupy the final play-off spot.

The only points of an intense first half came courtesy of Booth's try in the corner, although Hull KR could have led by more at the interval.

Arthur Mourgue missed all three of his kicks at goal, including two presentable penalty chances, while Mikey Lewis' length-of-the-field score was ruled out for a knock-on after a long review by the video referee.

The visitors could have gone over themselves immediately after the decision to rule out Lewis' effort, but Zak Hardaker was unable to cleanly gather a grubber kick a couple of yards away from the try line.

Hull KR capitalised immediately on Yusuf Aydin's yellow card for a dangerous tackle shortly after the break when hooker Litten, who signed a new contract with Rovers earlier in the week, dived over from dummy half underneath the posts.

Home captain Elliot Minchella was sent to the sin bin when he made shoulder contact with Lewis Martin's head - with perhaps only a late change of direction and a slight slip from Martin saving the Rovers forward from more severe punishment.

Broadbent touched down even though Rovers were a player light and Briscoe's try proved only a consolation for Hull FC as Davies dived over in the corner to end any hopes of a fightback.

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters told BBC Radio Humberside:

"It was scrappy but obviously we got the result and that's what we wanted to achieve.

"There's plenty to work on - the yardage errors made it difficult for ourselves and we can improve on last plays.

"I liked what we did in the first 20 minutes. We were only 4-0 up but I enjoyed what we did in terms of field position and piling some pressure on, and we let that off with some yardage errors.

"We know it [potentially clinching the League Leaders' Shield] is there but the next game is the most important against Wakefield, who have got a lot to play for and they're a good team.

"That's the motivator at the moment - to go there and perform better than what we did today. We need to improve, we know that."

Hull FC head coach John Cartwright told BBC Radio Humberside:

"It's a typical performance for us over the past eight to 10 weeks. We've been down on troops in key positions but they keep turning up with that sort of effort.

"We scored that try and I just got a little sniff of some momentum, but the second half was littered with some poor errors from us. I think there were three forward passes.

"They're the league leaders for a reason. We could have played with discipline when they were down to 12 men - I thought the game was there to be taken - but we let ourselves down there."

Hull KR: Mourgue; Davies, Hiku, Broadbent, Booth; Lewis, May; Whitbread, Litten, Waerea-Hargreaves, Hadley, Batchelor, Minchella.

Interchanges: Luckley, Tanginoa, Doro, Leyland.

Hull FC: L Kemp; Briscoe, Rapana, Litten, Martin; Cust, Sezer; Ashworth, Bourouh, Watts, Hardaker, Lane, Aydin.

Interchanges: Fash, Gardiner, Laidlaw, C Kemp.

Referee: Liam Moore.