Hull KR dealt sickening Dean Hadley injury blow as Arthur Mourgue also set for long absence

Hull KR look set to lose both Arthur Mourgue and Dean Hadley for lengthy periods – after both suffered serious injuries during Thursday’s World Club Challenge.

Mourgue left the field with what appeared to be a pectoral injury during the closing stages of the first half of the win over Brisbane Broncos.

Head coach Willie Peters later confirmed the worst fears of many inside the stadium, that Mourgue had indeed suffered a blow to his pectoral which would automatically lead to a long period on the sidelines.

But that was not the only blow on the evening.

It later emerged that Hadley suffered a possible fracture to his eye socket in the second half of the clash with the NRL premiers – which he played on with for the remainder of the contest.

“It doesn’t look good,” Peters said of Mourgue. “It’s a pec, which is time on the sidelines.

“Dean Hadley has a possible fracture to the eye and he stayed out there which is unbelievable. I hate when players get injured, the feeling I’ve got about winning is great – but it looks like there will be some decent time on the sidelines there.”

Peters admitted he was thrilled with the nature of Rovers’ performance in the opening hour – which was practically faultless as they raced into a 30-6 lead.

Brisbane scored three tries in five minutes, and another through Kotoni Staggs late on to set up a grandstand finale, but the Super League champions hung on.

“Unbelievable,” he said. “It was exactly how we wanted to play. We had a plan and we executed it perfectly. To suffocate them in field position is difficult to do because they’ve got balance all over the field. For 57 minutes we were in full control. We lost it and lost the momentum and we had to find a way, but we did.”