Warrington 46-24 Hull KR: Smith bows out with a win
Last Updated: 23/09/17 7:14pm
Tony Smith's final game in charge of Warrington ended in a comfortable 46-24 victory over Hull KR as the Wolves ended the season unbeaten in the Super 8s Qualifiers.
Smith's nine years as head coach of the Wolves brought three Challenge Cup wins, two League Leaders' Shields and three Grand Final appearances and there were emotional scenes at the end of the game as he said his goodbyes on the pitch.
Hull KR looked in the mood to spoil the party when they raced into an 18-4 lead in the first half but the home side recovered and produced a much-improved second-half display to end the season with 10 straight wins.
Ben Pomeroy and Andre Savelio both claimed two tries for the Wolves with others coming from Peta Hiku, Harvey Livett, Ben Currie, Stefan Ratchford and Brad Dwyer with Livett landing four goals and Kurt Gidley one.
Wingers Ryan Shaw and Will Oakes both scored two tries for Hull KR in defeat while Jamie Ellis landed four goals.
It was the newly-promoted Rovers who got off to a flying start when with their first attack - some slick handling allowed Chris Atkin to send winger Oakes over in the corner and Ellis landed a fine touchline conversion to give the visitors an early 6-0 lead.
Hull KR were definitely in the mood to spoil the celebrations at the Halliwell Jones as some fine scrambling defence kept their line intact and they were unlucky not to increase their lead when Ben Kavanagh had a try ruled out for a double movement.
The Wolves hit back on 18 minutes when Kevin Brown and Ratchford combined to get Pomeroy over in the corner.
But Rovers stunned the home side with two tries in as many minutes from Shaw to silence the large home crowd.
Firstly, Atkin's clearing kick deflected off the back of Currie into the hands of Chris Clarkson who then kicked ahead again and Shaw won the race to touch down.
And in the next set Maurice Blair broke from inside his own half and sprinted 50 metres before handing the pass on to Shaw to claim a quickfire second try.
But the Wolves finished the half the stronger and by half-time had reduced the deficit to 18-16.
Brown saw his cross-field kick plucked out of the air by Ratchford to score on 31 minutes and then three minutes before the break Dwyer claimed a try on his last Warrington appearance, before he joins Leeds Rhinos, when he scooted over from dummy half.
The Wolves hit the front for the first time eight minutes after the restart when Savelio powered over from close range.
Both teams were reduced to 12 men on 50 minutes when Warrington's Jack Hughes and Hull KR's Lee Jewitt were sent to the sin bin for a skirmish in back play.
Pomeroy claimed his second try when he crashed over from close range on 52 minutes to open up an eight-point advantage.
But the Robins would not lie down and hit back when a superb long pass from Ellis gave Oakes a walk-in try at the corner.
Savelio claimed his second on the hour mark to restore Warrington's eight-point lead and the victory was assured when Hiku followed that up with his ninth try in the Qualifiers.
The Wolves then finished in style as the Robins ran out of steam late on as Currie added his side's eighth try seven minutes from time before Livett's late effort completed the scoring.
