Sam Burgess hails George Williams and Hull KR's Mikey Lewis in thriller
George Williams won the battle of the England halves as Warrington edged a classic.
The England captain made an instant impact for Sam Burgess’ side after missing the last two games with an ankle injury. He scored one try and set up two others in a thrilling see-saw contest. But he was pushed all the way by Mikey Lewis, the Robins star who shone for England when Williams was suspended against Tonga last autumn.
KR twice fought from behind to lead only to see the excellent Matt Dufty break their hearts with a 69th minute try. They will rue a raft of botched chances - and missed conversions - to allow Wire to make it three wins on the spin. Burgess hailed a "great spectacle" and, on that fascinating half-back contest, he said: "It was pretty entertaining wasn’t it? Mikey was brilliant tonight. It was probably his best game of the year. He really troubled us.
"They're two competitive players, extremely passionate about their two clubs. I saw Mikey after the game and he was bruised and battered, absolutely spent. He doesn’t leave much on the field. It’s good for the game: moving forward it’s a pretty lethal combination in that England set-up. With George, we only decided about two hours before kick-off. It was a late call. We’re thin on the ground. But George stepped up and he’s tough guy. He stirred it up, though - his ankle - so we might pay a price."
The visitors led 18-16 at the break but only after a crazy half. They surged into a 10-0 lead after just 14 minutes. Williams sped over when Dufty fended off some feeble KR defence. Josh Thewlis improved before KR full-back Peta Hiku made a hash of Leon Hayes’ simple kick to gift England winger Matty Ashton a try. But the under-pressure hosts scored with their first attack in the 17th minute.
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Lewis hoisted a huge kick which half-back partner Tyrone May sped after, before leaping high in front of rooted full-back Dufty to score. Jez Litten slotted the first of his two conversions but Kelepi Tanginoa blew another chance after smashing through on May’s quality pass. However, KR overturned that early deficit when Lewis and Oliver Gildart combined smartly to get Ryan Hall over on 25 minutes, Litten converting. They should have extended their lead but James Batchelor - who missed two conversion attempts after taking over from Litten - inexplicably spilled over the goalline from May’s latest defence-splitting pass.
Warrington's Connor Wrench scores (PA)It proved costly as Warrington woke from their slumber to with back-to-back tries on the stroke of half-time. Toby King crossed after a slick move involving Lachlan Fitzgibbon. And in the next set, Williams’ clever inside ball set Dufty clear from deep, the Aussie kicking on for Connor Wrench to score with just 20 seconds left on the clock.
Rovers messed up another chance at the start of the second period when Lewis broke again but passed behind Litten. It didn’t matter, though, as Lewis’ lovely floated pass invited Hall in and he fed Gildart inside for a 57th minute try. Five minutes later, May stepped up with an even better pass for Tom Opacic to put KR back in front. But Dufty came good when Williams slipped him over from a 20m scrum, outpacing Hiku.
Robins boss Willie Peters admitted: “I’m gutted for the players. Most of the time you put that effort in, you win. I can’t fault the effort. Our last pass just hurt us. We just found ways to hand momentum back. That’s the worst part. At 10-0 a lot of teams would have fallen off. But not us. Arguably we were the better team.”
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