Super League: Hull KR race away from London Broncos late on
London Broncos are still looking for their first win of the Super League season after a 48-16 defeat to Hull KR.
Last Updated: 25/05/14 5:26pm
The Broncos have recently been showing signs of improvement under new coach Joe Grima and gave the Robins a second-half scare on Saturday, but ultimately remain without a point after 14 league matches.
On-loan St Helens winger Ade Gardner, Craig Hall and Josh Hodgson all touched down twice for Rovers, whose lead was only six points with 25 minutes remaining, while there were also tries for Neville Costigan, Adam Walker and Kevin Larroyer.
Travis Burns added six conversions as Craig Sandercock's side moved back into the play-off places. Alex Foster grabbed a brace of tries for London and Denny Solomona also went over.
It was a cagey opening from both sides with the hosts, who won the Hull derby on Magic Weekend last time out, particularly guilty of several handling errors.
But Rovers hit their stride in the 17th minute when an initial burst down the right from Kris Keating laid the perfect platform, and they duly took advantage as Costigan offloaded to Hodgson to touch down.
Only superb intervention from the backtracking Solomona prevented Gardner from grounding his side's second try immediately afterwards, yet the hosts would not be denied as from the next set of six as Costigan went over under the posts.
Comeback
London did stem the tide and got on the scoreboard when Solomona dived over on the left after collecting a short pass from Scott Moore, but their deficiencies were exposed once again when replacement Walker pierced another gap in the defence to score on his return from injury.
The visitors were undone once again when Ben Cockayne cleverly dummied from deep and with the defence struggling to regroup, Gardner did well to take Burns' pass well above his head to touch down in the right corner.
Burns could not maintain his accuracy with the conversion attempt as Hull KR went in at half-time with a comfortable 22-4 lead.
But they were grateful for two wasteful errors from London either side of half-time, Mason Caton-Brown being denied a try after the referee had ruled he had collected a forward pass and Solomona then knocking on after the restart with the line gaping.
The Broncos did keep up the pressure and were rewarded when loose forward Foster went over after Hull KR had allowed an up and under from Josh Drinkwater to bounce.
Clearly buoyed by their score, London continued to push forward and Foster scored his second try after James Cunningham had jinked his way through the Hull KR defence.
Once more, though, London were undermined by their defence as they conceded possession deep in their own half after a knock-on, and a flowing move along the right ended with Larroyer scoring Hull KR's fifth try to give them a 26-16 lead.
And London's hopes of overhauling the deficit where killed off when Gardner scored his second try following a concerted spell of pressure from Hull KR, who finished with a flourish thanks to two tries from Hall and one from Hodgson.