Start to second half cost Hull KR at Wakefield, says Tim Sheens

Hull KR coach Tim Sheens said their start to the second half cost them the game at Wakefield.

Rovers were only 18-12 behind at the break against Wakefield Trinity, but 20 unanswered points in the first 15 minutes from Trinity steered them to a 54-18 victory at the Mobile Rocket Stadium on Sunday.

And Sheens was left frustrated by his side’s start to the second half.

He said: “You can’t play against physically strong teams like Wakefield without having the ball.

“In the second half we barely had possession in the first 20 minutes and that is where the damage was done.

“In the first 12 sets of the second half, I think we had the ball for only one of them. I defy any team in the competition to do a good job defensively in those circumstances and in those conditions, but in saying that we’re still very disappointed in what we did.

“We gave away far too many penalties, especially in the second half and the game went away from us very quickly.

“I was very impressed with Aaron Smith today. He came on at a very challenging time when Wakefield had a lot of possession. His distribution was very solid and in defence he was great. He’ll probably remember this game for all the wrong reasons but his debut for the club was strong.”

Sheens revealed Maurice Blair picked up a back injury, Chris Clarkson injured his hip flexor and Danny McGuire played with a leg problem. They will be assessed further this week.