Franklin Pele and Ligi Sao sent off as Hull thrashed by Hull KR in opener

15 February 2024 , 22:04

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Hull's Franklin Pele sees red in Super League opener (Image: PA)

Franklin Pele's melee madness left 11-man Hull staring at another embarrassing derby defeat.

The giant New Zealander prop copped a 39th minute red card on debut as rivals Hull KR bossed Super League’s opening night. Fired-up Pele smashed Elliot Minchella with a borderline high shot. He might have got away with that. But then the ex-Canterbury forward immediately hit the grounded Rovers captain in the head with a wild swinging arm.

And Pele also threw punches in the ensuing melee as every player got involved. Hull second-row Ligi Sao was also dismissed in the 73rd minute after kneeing Matt Parcell in the face. That was in retaliation to the KR hooker sticking a forearm in his face in a tackle, Parcell getting a yellow card.

Rovers were 14-0 up when Pele was sent off after their own debutants Niall Evalds and Kelepi Tanginoa plus England scrum-half Mikey Lewis all crossed. But ill-disciplined Hull had already once been reduced to 12 men. Prop Herman Ese’ese, another NRL signing, was sin-binned for a 12th minute high tackle on Tanginoa.

Hull boss Tony Smith admitted: “Loads went wrong. Some of it before the kick off and that disrupted us a bit. Some of the on-field incidents certainly did. I don’t think discipline was good from a whole lot of people. We’ve got to learn from that. We made it hard for ourselves and let emotions get carried away.

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“The 12 players had a real dig in the second half and tried really hard but it wasn’t to be. Our opposition deserved it. We’ll lick our wounds.”

Asked to expand on the 'emotions' comment, he added: "I don’t know if it was about the rivalries between the clubs or the new boys wanting to come and make a difference. I think they want to prove to their new pals they can make a difference here. For most of the match it was played in pretty good spirit.

"I wasn’t insinuating they were over-hyped. We were probably getting a bit frustrated with the way we were playing when Frank got involved with what he got involved with. He got in a nice, good hit and should have stopped at that. He probably wanted to turn it into a bit more than that. Frank’s was a terrific [first] hit on Elliot and he should probably have just walked up and put his body weight on. That would have been enough."

Hull KR captain Elliot Minchella waves off Franklin Pele after the Hull prop is red-carded for his skirmish with the Rovers loose forward (PA)

Rugby league’s new game-shakers IMG are all about making events out of matches. Hull employed a matchday resident DJ to whip up the crowd of 20,014, Super League’s biggest opening night attendance since 2007. He belted out Underworld’s Born Slippy but it was the mistake-ridden hosts predictably slipping up as the action unfolded.

Their night started badly and just got worse. They lost Liam Sutcliffe after the ex-Leeds centre felt ill in the warm-up. That saw 18th man Davy Litten catapulted straight into the starting line-up. The youngster had barely got his bearings when Tom Opacic swotted him aside to set up ex-Castleford star Evalds’ sixth minute opener.

Just three minutes later, FC loose forward Joe Cator limped off with a "significant" hamstring injury. When Morgan Smith, one of six Hull debutants, kicked out on the full, Lewis slipped Tanginoa over. And after Pele caught Lewis high, the little No7 ducked and weaved through some awful defence to cross in the 36th minute.

Everyone in during the Hull derby after Franklin Pele challenge (PA)

KR were always tipped to claim the 244th derby spoils. They reached the Challenge Cup final last year, made the top-four and recruited top-end players like Tyrone May and Peta Hiku in the off-season. But they didn’t have to play that great given all the ball FC coughed up.

Parcell grabbed KR’s fourth try just before the hour. Evalds got his second try in the final seconds. Hull, hammered 40-0 the last time they met Rovers at MKM Stadium, also lost captain Danny Houghton and Jack Walker to HIAs.. They were thankful Hiku managed just one goal from five attempts, James Batchelor also off cue at the end after taking over kicking duties.

Houghton failed his HIA so misses their next game against Warrington but Walker had better news. Rovers boss Willie Peters said: "I was happy with the win and the way we defended. You want to win against your rivals; we achieved that. Defensively, we want to be good, and we were strong in that department. But with the ball we were very clunky.

“We should be scoring more points with them down to 12 and 11 men. It’s only round one, though."

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And he dedicated the victory to two Robins favourites who are currently battling illness - former vice-chairman Rob Crossland and 1980 Challenge Cup and World Cup winner Phil Lowe. Peters closed his press conference by saying: "Two Rovers men, Phil Lowe and Rob Crossland, haven't been well. So that win is for them tonight. Our owner, Neil Hudgell, came in and addressed us yesterday, and our thoughts are with them. The players really wanted to win for those guys, so we're really happy with that."

David Craven