Rugby league is never short on incredible stories but even by the sport’s lofty standards, Hull KR’s rise to the greatest club side in the game feels too far-fetched for even the greatest of Hollywood script-writers.
For 40 years, Hull KR have not just been in the shadows in this rugby league-obsessed city, second fiddle to their bitter rivals whose home they filled to be crowned world champions for the very first time, they have been in the sport’s entire wilderness. Until now.
At the turn of the century, there very nearly wasn’t even a Hull KR. Crippled by financial ruin and with crowds barely exceeding 1,000 on occasions as they languished in the second and third tiers, the notion of nights like these ever becoming a reality was nothing other than impossible for a club suffocated by the grip of failure.
Even more recently, Hull KR finished bottom of Super League in 2020 – spared from relegation only by Toronto Wolfpack’s demise due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And now? Little over five years later, Rovers are not only Super League champions, they are champions of the world, winners of the World Club Challenge for the very first time in their history.
The way they did it was utterly spellbinding too. For almost an hour Rovers were practically faultless against a Brisbane side who were dubbed heavy favourites. They led 30-4 going into the final quarter and the notion of a landslide win against the NRL premiers seemed to be firmly on the cards.
Of course, this Brisbane side, littered with world-class talent, would never completely roll over – and they almost threatened to complete one of the greatest comeback the game has ever seen. Three tries in five minutes made it 30-20 before Kotoni Staggs scored with three minutes left to leave a sell-out crowd on the edge of their seats.
But Rovers dug deep and held on to become only the fifth Super League team in the modern era to win the World Club Challenge. “We were unbelievable for an hour,” Willie Peters, the man who has masterminded this rise, said. “We had a plan and while we lost it and the momentum, we had to find a way – and we did.”
This was also a nice tonic for the English game after the disappointment of last year’s Ashes defeat; Super League teams have now won the last three World Club Challenge games. As Peters said, for almost an hour, the Super League champions were magnificent. Their kicking game spearheaded by the brilliance of Mikey Lewis.
He was instrumental in the early tries for Tom Amone and Elliot Minchella that made it 12-0 before Joe Burgess exploited a Brisbane error to make it 18-0 in the blink of an eye. The Broncos had been stunned, and the fact they managed to at least erode the deficit somewhat before the break with Gehamat Shibasaki’s clever try kept them in the game.
But just like in the first half, it was the Super League side who started the better after the restart. Within nine minutes, another Lewis kick led to Oliver Gildart scoring before Tyrone May’s clever kick found Peta Hiku. With Rovers converting all five tries, it was suddenly 30-6 and the contest seemed like it was done.
But the entertainment was just beginning. After a laborious opening hour, Brisbane came alive. Patrick Carrigan finished a long-range move before Deine Mariner broke from deep after the resulting kick-off. When the outstanding Reece Walsh’spass enabled Shibasaki to score his second two minutes later, the gap was suddenly down to 10 points.
Hull KR held off any further Brisbane threat: until the final four minutes when Staggs finished another brilliant Broncos move. But Adam Reynolds missed the conversion, as he had earlier in the contest – meaning Rovers had a lead of six points. It was tense, it was nerve-shredding: but despite another late threat from the NRL champions in the final seconds, the Robins held on for rugby league immortality.
Hull KR’s longstanding owner, Neil Hudgell – the man who has rescued them from financial disaster on several occasions in the past 25 years – warned last week that anyone fortunate enough to be in attendance should enjoy the moment, because you never know when it may arrive again.
But, right now, it feels like the good times at this club, now the world’s greatest, will not come to an end any time soon.
