Hull KR 14-10 Leigh Centurions: Hosts come from behind to progress in Challenge Cup
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 11/04/19 10:54pm
Hull KR had a lucky escape in the fifth round of the Challenge Cup after beating Championship side Leigh Centurions 14-10 at KCOM Craven Park.
Jimmy Keinhorst, Craig Hall and Ryan Shaw scored the tries and Shaw added a conversion which saw the Super League side just make it through to the sixth round.
Leigh had led through first-half tries from Jonny Pownall and former Rovers forward Joe Cator but Keinhorst's score before the break gave the sparse home crowd hope.
Leigh, fifth in the Championship table, were well-marshalled by experienced former St Helens, Wigan and Warrington hooker Mickey Higham but tired towards the end.
Leigh opened the scoring inside the first five minutes when winger Pownall went in at the right corner following a cut-out pass.
Hull KR tried to respond but were guilty of handling errors which relieved any pressure they built up on the Leigh defence.
The away side went further in front after 22 minutes when Cator crossed against his former club and with Martyn Ridyard adding the extras, the visitors led 10-0 with over a quarter of the game gone.
Tim Sheens' outfit were finally on the board four minutes before the break when Keinhorst twisted out of a tackle to touch down.
Hall had been stopped short in the corner but did well to offload back inside to the centre, making the score 10-4 to the visitors for an advantage that they held at the interval.
Rovers started the second half better than the first but some resolute defending by Leigh kept them out for 10 minutes. The closest that the home side came to crossing again was when Joel Tomkins was held just short of the line on the final tackle.
Weller Hauraki was then unlucky as his juggle spilled the ball over the dead-ball line after he took a pass just short of the Leigh try line.
The visitors were denied a third score as Cator was held up on the final tackle and valiant Leigh defending then stopped Kane Linnett short with a little over 20 minutes remaining as they held on to their six-point lead.
When Rovers were penalised just inside their own half with 15 minutes remaining, Ridyard went for a long-distance penalty. His effort was just wide though.
Shaw grabbed Rovers' second try in the left corner when Hall loped the ball our wide after Josh Drinkwater's kick had been flicked on. But Hall's touchline kick was well off target and Rovers still trailed by two points with eight minutes remaining.
The home side led for the first time shortly after when Keinhorst broke through the middle and gave Hall the simple job of touching down under the posts.
Shaw converted to put Rovers 14-10 in front with five minutes to go and their lucky escape was complete.
Shaw took the shine off the victory when he was sent to the sin-bin in the last minute for fighting but, his side had already done enough to progress.
