Sheens: Everybody played their part in big win

Tim Sheens praised his players for focusing on the job at hand as Hull KR romped to a comprehensive 68-4 victory at Batley on Sunday.

Rovers visit Salford in the sixth round of the Challenge Cup on Friday, but Sheens was delighted to see his team out that to the back of their minds against the Bulldogs.

“I asked for the players to be much better in terms of our execution and they delivered that today,” he told the club’s official website.

“In most circumstances, we hit the right man with the right pass and most of the things we practised during the week paid off.

“I thought Ben Cockayne had a great game at the back and really made a difference for us today. There’s an old saying in football that a good full-back is like having a 14th man and Ben offered us that this afternoon.

“He got involved on both sides of the field and turned up in the spots we asked him to. Some of the passes on the back of that in what were windy conditions were excellent as well.

“Joe Cator played a lot of minutes and did well and George Lawler was very good in the first half also. Our wingers did well and I’m pleased the supporters got to see the same things I’ve been seeing in Jake Butler-Fleming. We’ve got ourselves a good winger there and he came through with no problems to his knee.

“Everybody played their part though and we turned up well as a team. Sometimes at away games you’re thinking of other things, such as next week’s game against Salford, but credit to the team because they turned up and came up with the results.

“We focused on the simple things and doing them well. We built the scoreboard up from that and we were strong defensively as well so I was really happy with what we did this afternoon.

“In defence, we kept them to nil until right at the end of the game. To keep any team to zero is difficult to do, but I was pleased with most of the things we did defensively. They play with some real width in attack and good shape, but we handled most of what they threw at us.

“We won’t kid ourselves thinking that Salford will be the same as what we faced on Sunday. They’re a big, strong and skilful side who deserve to be running where they are in Super League.

“With who they have been beating in that competition, they’ll have no fears playing against us but I was there last year when they played Hull KR in a game they probably expected to win and came unstuck.

“We’ll need to get off to a good start and stay with them, as we can’t afford for them to open up a lead and put the pressure on.

“The first thing is for the players to believe we are capable of going there and competing, so we’ll enjoy the win and then turn our attention to Salford during the week and look at some of the little ways we think we can break them down.”