Super League: Hull KR 19-18 Castleford Tigers: Mikey Lewis snatches victory in extra-time
In a frantic opening, Robins new boy Jared Waerea-Hargreaves thought he had forced himself over the line but, following a captain’s challenge, was deemed to have knocked on before touching the ball down.
Hull KR winger Burgess, who had dropped the ball in a similar position moments before, opened the scoring after 17 minutes when he dived in at the corner following good work from Lewis.
Castleford did not drop their heads, however, and after some excellent defending from Niall Evalds had momentarily kept them out, an excellent dummy from Tex Hoy allowed Simms to dive in at the right-hand corner.
Shortly after, Rooney slalomed past two challenges to score superbly to the right of the posts to give the visitors a deserved six-point lead after Hoy had added the extras.
Hoy extended the visitors’ lead with a penalty kick, but Hiku’s excellent finish in the corner pulled the score back to 12-8 at half-time.
Excellent scrambling defence from the visitors denied the home side until the 64th minute when Lewis found a yard of space to find Burgess to acrobatically score his second try of the match.
Rhyse Martin’s excellent kick from the touchline gave the hosts the lead they craved, and after Burgess’ third try of the night, a carbon copy of his second, it looked like the win was secure.
Back came the tireless Tigers, who showed they will be tough opposition for anybody this season despite last week’s Challenge Cup exit at Bradford Bulls, and new signing Cini collected Hoy’s up-and-under to level the scores and force the match into extra-time before Lewis’ match-winning moment.
