Hull KR produce stunning fightback to see off Giants
Sunday, 11 May 2008 16:23
Paul Cooke scored five goals for Hull KR
Hull Kingston-Rovers are through to the fifth round of the Challenge Cup after a 42-22 win over Huddersfield at Craven Park.
In a ding-dong battle, the Giants took an early lead with tries from Paul Whatuira and Ryan Hudson.
But the Robins led 20-12 at the break with Scott Murrell, Daniel Fitzhenry, Peter Fox and Shaun Briscoe crossing the line.
The visitors regained the lead when Whatuira and Martin Aspinwall touched down, but tries by Mick Vella, Fox, Chris Chester and Ben Fisher clinched victory for Rovers.
Huddersfield will be ruing their exit from the competition after making a bright start.
New Zealand international Whatuira finished off a sweeping move to touch down on 12 minutes, while another slick attack saw Ben Snitch offload to Hudson to dive under the posts.
Hull KR got off the mark on 24 minutes when Murrell bulldozed through three defenders to score, while Paul Cooke slotted over a penalty.
That inspired a fightback with Ben Cockayne's kick collected by Fitzhenry who touched down. The Robins took the lead on the half hour mark when Fox capitalised on Rod Jenson dropping a high ball to cross the line.
The home side increased their advantage two minutes before the break when another arrowing kick forward was collected by Fisher to touch down.
Huddersfield mounted their own comeback at the start of the second half with Whatuira outpacing Cockayne to score in the corner.
And the Giants moved level when Eorl Crabtree beat off the challenge of four players to find Aspinwall who scored his side's fourth try.
But the Robins sealed victory with four quick-fire tries starting with Fox who grabbed his second from Chev Walker's assist.
Prop Vella increased Hull KR's advantage when he powered home from five yards.
Clint Newton went on a mazy run to set-up Chester to score on 74 minutes, with Fisher clinching the win two minutes later when he collected Jason Netherton's inside pass to touch down.