Keating could return against Widnes

Hulll KR coach Chris Chester has confirmed that Kris Keating is likely to be back in the frame for next week’s clash with Widnes.

The Australian halfback was dropped for the Robins’ 62-10 win at London Broncos on Saturday, but the squad was hit by injuries to Michael Weyman, Aaron Ollett and the man who replaced Keating at 7, Craig Hall.

“I made the decision not to play Kris Keating today because there were one or two areas of his game that I wanted him to improve on,” Chester told his club’s official website.

“He’s taken it really well and worked on those at training this week.

“We’ve lost Aaron Ollett to a knee injury and Craig Hall and Mick Weyman to a calf and a hamstring, so we’ll send them for scans.

“We don’t know how serious they are yet but with injuries to those three I’d imagine Kris will come back into the squad next week.”

Chester was pleased with the manner of his team’s win at London, but still wants to see improvement for the game with Widnes.

“We threw some good shape at London and I’m really happy with what we did with the ball,” he said.

“It was a tough game, it was 30 degrees and it will have taken a lot of energy out of the boys but I was pleased with the structure that we had.

“We know we’ve still got a lot of work to do defensively though. I was disappointed with the tries we conceded, they were a couple of soft tries down our left edge and I’ve spoken to that side about it.

“We know we’ve got to be a lot better next week against a very good Widnes side and that we’ve got to smarten a few areas up.”