Tony Smith says Hull KR will be ready for Leeds battle

Tony Smith takes his Hull KR side to Leeds next week off the back of his worst defeat as Robins coach.

They went down 52-10 to a rampant Wigan on Friday night, little over a week on since a win over city rivals Hull FC lifted them off the bottom of the Super League table.

It was a far cry from their recent meeting at Craven Park, which saw Sam Powell’s late drop goal edge a thriller 19-18, in what was Smith’s first game in charge.

They then went on to beat Warrington by two, before losing to relegation rivals London by two points too.

Smith said: “I’ll keep hearing that same question for the next eight rounds. ‘Big game coming up this weekend’, they are all big games. Each week is a big game, are they important? Absolutely.

“As soon as one is finished, we all go well the next one is a big game. That’s been the case since round one.

“They are all important, we’ll go away and lick our wounds, we’ll watch this game back and get those lessons out of it and get back on the horse.”

The defeat meant Hull KR slipped to the bottom of the Super League table on points difference, though London will replace them at the basement should they get beat by more than one point by Warrington this afternoon.