Grading the half-backs involved in the Hull derby, with KR star a cut above the rest

Hull KR made it a 2024 treble against cross-city rivals Hull FC with a 24-10 win at the MKM Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Three tries in the first 18 minutes from Sauaso ‘Jesse’ Sue, Mikey Lewis & Matty Storton saw the Robins race into an 18-0 lead.

And though FC mounted a bit of a comeback midway through the second half with both Lewis Martin & Logan Moy crossing, KR hit back through captain Elliot Minchella to put the seal on a 24-10 triumph across in the west of the city.

Minchella had earlier in a fiery contest been sent to the sin-bin by referee Chris Kendall, one of four players shown a yellow card on the day alongside FC’s Brad Fash & Denive Balmforth and his own team-mate Joe Burgess.

Below, we’ve graded the four half-backs on show in Saturday’s Round 17 clash…

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Jack Charles (Hull FC) – C-

Youngster Charles returned to the FC side for the first time in just over a month following the departure of loanee Ben Reynolds, who saw his contract with parent club KR terminated earlier this week and has now joined Championship outfit Featherstone Rovers.

Without making any major errors, the teenager just never seemed to get into Saturday’s game, certainly not to the levels we’d seen him do so at previously. He definitely wasn’t overawed by the occasion, more those who were up against him.

Mikey Lewis (Hull KR) – A

Lewis supported FC growing up, but you wouldn’t know it by how much he loves to hurt them! His kick was dropped by Moy two minutes in, and by the 13th minute, the playmaker had scored KR’s second try of the afternoon.

At his electric best for the vast majority of the game, he earned a pressure-relieving penalty with 10 minutes remaining, and was perfect with the boot on conversions to ensure Willie Peters’ side weren’t under immense scoreboard pressure. We can’t not mention his try-saver five minutes into the second half as Tiaki Chan looked certain to touch the ball down, either. Immense.

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Tyrone May (Hull KR) – B+

May didn’t get on the scoresheet himself, but was a constant threat throughout and made things happen. He teed up Storton for KR’s third try 18 minutes in and was desperately unlucky not to set another up a few minutes later as a ball ended up just behind the hands of Joe Burgess rather than in them.

Ex-Catalans Dragons ace May went on to force a goal-line drop out in the second half, and drew in the high shot which saw FC young gun Denive Balmforth spend the final 10 minutes of the game in the sin-bin. There’s no doubt that extra man helped KR’s cause late on.

Jake Trueman (Hull FC) – C+

Trueman didn’t make *much* happen, but it wasn’t for the want of trying. It probably took until KR went 18-0 up for him to start growing into the game, and that isn’t acceptable, but he was far from alone in that.

A couple of his kicks caused issues for the Robins during the afternoon, and earned FC a handful of opportunities they weren’t able to make count. We’re not saying he’s the best half-back in the league, but he’s certainly not the worst. Saturday’s showing pretty much summed that up.

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