Chris Chester amazed by Hull KR's comeback against Catalans
Last Updated: 15/03/15 7:18pm
Hull KR head coach Chris Chester was surprised by their stunning comeback in Sunday’s Super League win over Catalans Dragons.
Despite trailing 20-10 at half time Chester knew his side were still in the game, but he didn’t forecast the second-half rout his players put on.
Rovers scored seven tries after the interval to record a resounding 50-20 victory at the KC Lightstream Stadium as they climbed off the bottom of the Super League table.
"I didn't see that scoreline coming," said Chester. "I thought at half-time we were in with a shout of winning the game.
Hopefully now the guys have the belief because I said to them after the game 'we are a good rugby team and we need to start believing ourselves a bit more'.
Chris Chester
"Hopefully now the guys have the belief because I said to them after the game 'we are a good rugby team and we need to start believing ourselves a bit more'. If we do that, we'll be okay."
Ken Sio led the way with a hat-trick of tries while Ben Cockayne and debutant Shaun Lunt notched braces.
Albert Kelly and Liam Salter were also on the scoresheet for the hosts, with Josh Mantellato slotting over seven conversions.
Momentum
Chester thought Cockayne's first score of the afternoon, which came a minute before the break, shifted the momentum in the home side's favour.
"Ben Cockayne's try just before half-time gave us a big lift,” he said. “We didn't play too well in the first half; they were very aggressive and our first contact wasn't that great.
"We addressed that at half-time and we improved that and I was impressed with the effort."
Catalans coach Laurent Frayssinous is keeping his side in England this week ahead of their trip to Hull FC on Friday and hopes he can shore up a defence that has conceded 90 points in their last two matches.
"We need to defend like a Super League side, not a French Championship side," said Frayssinous, who saw his side ship 40 points in last week’s draw with Salford.
"Our possession in the first half was good and we applied some pressure on the Hull KR line. We weren't great in the first half and we defended poorly and that showed in the second half.
"I didn't see us conceding 50 points. We need to give credit to Rovers because they put us under a lot of pressure in the second half.
"They have some great players and they punished us. With the new format, we cannot afford to defend like we did and we have to sort that out very quickly."