Hull KR vs London Broncos Predictions: Rovers for the half-century

When Hull KR took a 28-0 lead into half-time against rivals Hull FC last week, a huge victory looked on the cards. And similar will be expected of them this Friday when they host the Betfred Super League’s bottom-placed club, the London Broncos (kick-off 20:00 BST).

The Robins ended up recording a 34-10 victory at Sewell Group Craven Park in the traditional Good Friday contest, with Willie Peters insisting he wants a better display of professionalism against a London side still seeking their first win of 2024. Our Hull KR vs London Broncos predictions will naturally pertain to Rovers bagging the points.

Team news

Peters has named an unchanged 21-man squad to the one which was selected for the derby win over Hull FC. That means no return for Oliver Gildart, who sustained a head injury in the Betfred Challenge Cup win over Salford Red Devils a fortnight ago. He will continue to be deputised by Tom Opacic.

Prop George King is also missing, with the hamstring injury he picked up in a 24-12 win at Huddersfield Giants due to keep him sidelines for another few weeks yet.

Bucking the trend of some other clubs, most notably the world champion Wigan Warriors in their 60-22 victory at Plough Lane, Rovers won’t make wholesale changes to their starting XIII against the Broncos, with Peters insisting on 100 per-cent focus on Friday’s fixture.

“This game is extremely important to us, like every game is,” he told his pre-match press conference. “We, the whole coaching staff, have looked thoroughly into London, and they ask a lot of questions. When you look at their attack, they’ve got really nice shape and we need to be on defensively like we have been, and then with the ball we need to ask questions of them and put some fatigue in them.

“That’s our focus: Friday night. It’s an important game, we want to pride ourselves on being up again after a derby because some teams may drop intensity after they have a spike for a derby game. We pride ourselves on making sure we stay at the levels that we want to be at.”

London coach Mike Eccles makes a single change to the squad named for last week’s 26-6 home loss to Huddersfield Giants, with loan signing Reiss Butterworth returning to opponents Hull KR following a two-week loan.

That brings Broncos academy product Joe Stocks into the reckoning for a potential Super League debut, having recently appeared as a substitute in the 42-0 Challenge Cup reverse to Warrington Wolves. Emmanuel Waine is still out of the picture having not appeared since an opening-night loss to St Helens.

Eccles underlined after the Huddersfield defeat that his side are still getting to grips with the faster nature of Super League rugby, although they did almost come away with a win the last time they were in East Yorkshire.

“They’re feeling the required intensity level, some of these guys for the first time ever,” he said of his squad. “You’re not just going to feel it then adapt and adjust overnight, are you?

“It’s just about repetition and being consistent with the things we’re finding, trying to be in games and take games deep, because we’re not putting any teams under pressure other than Hull, where we took the game deep and nearly got the victory.”

Hull KR to win by 51+ points @ 4/1

Willie Peters’ message this week has basically been “go big or go home”. He has thrown his best players back out there for London’s visit, and having racked up 40 against Salford in the cup, then blown away Hull FC in the opening half last week, there should be plenty more points on offer for Rovers against the Broncos.

Ryan Hall is quickly closing in on Danny McGuire’s Super League try-scoring record, sitting just four behind his former Leeds Rhinos teammate, while Peta Hiku has crossed six times in seven games, and Niall Evalds and Joe Burgess have four tries apiece to date.

All of which is to say that Rovers are full of threat out wide, and even with a combined goalkicking record of 20 from 38 (52.6 per cent) so far this season, there ought to more than enough in the home side to put the Broncos to the sword in a big way. The odds implied a 20% chance of Rovers winning by more than half a century but I have them down for the big five-oh and then some.

Kelepi Tanginoa anytime tryscorer @ 2/1

Obviously, the anytime tryscorer market is filled with Rovers players at short odds - Ryan Hall at 2/5 is pretty much guaranteeing you a return, but in a week when his coach has thrown down the gauntlet to the entire left edge, Kelepi Tanginoa has something to prove and could give value at 2/1.

He has crossed twice so far this season – both in one-sided wins over Hull FC – and is a real running threat on a left side which Peters panned for not matching the principles of the right edge in last week’s derby victory.

And that could see the former Wakefield Trinity man running harder than ever from the back row against a Broncos outfit conceding more than 41 points per game on average this term.

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