17 January 2023 , 11:28
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Ryan Hall is ready to put his double World Cup disappointment behind him with a new and improved Hull KR.
England’s record try-scorer admits it was hard playing second fiddle for Shaun Wane’s side. Hall, 35, lost his spot to brilliant young gun Dom Young and St Helens flier Tommy Makinson. And he was left as one of the unused squad members when England suffered World Cup semi-final heartache versus Samoa.
Hall, who has 39 tries in 45 Tests for England, recollected: “Personally, it was a new experience as I was third choice winger. I was playing a support role for the other two which is not normally how I’ve done things. I’ve normally been the number one winger. But that role needed to be filled and filled rightly as you have to get the team ready to play. I had to keep Dom and Tommy on their toes playing well which I think they did do throughout the tournament.
“I can’t really complain about not playing as Dom came up into the international scene and lit it up and probably deserved to play. So did Tommy with his form throughout the year and the quality player he is. But even though I didn’t play in that game we lost, it was still a bitter blow. It was pretty hard to get over.”
But the ex-Leeds star will turn that into a positive when Super League kicks off again next month. Rovers finished a disappointing eighth last term having been just 80 minutes from Old Trafford in 2021. With Australian ex-Wigan scrum-half Willie Peters having taken over in his first head coach appointment, Hall expects them to be a different proposition.
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They will certainly be changes to the style of the often maverick side under the command of predecessor of Tony Smith who was sacked in July. Hall said: “It is his (Peters’) first job but he’s not convincing anyone it’s his first job. He’s acting like a head coach, delivering his stuff like a seasoned head coach and he’s hit the ground running with it.
Ryan Hall applauds the fans after England's World Cup win over France (Getty Images)“He does have his ideas about what a good team will look like and KR will look slightly different this year compared. Without giving too much away, we are certainly a fitter team this year. That helps. But we’ve a bit more structure.
"He’s trying to give us more of a plan because the Hull KR of the last two years has been very ad-hoc. We played what we saw. Sometimes it came off really well. But sometimes it didn’t. He’s tried to iron out those times when it didn’t. He wants more stability rather than being up and down like a rollercoaster.”