Warrington Wolves boss Sam Burgess admits performance against Hull KR 'doesn’t get much better'

The Wolves raced into an 18-0 lead with a strong attacking start in Thursday’s encounter at the Halliwell Jones Stadium before showing their defensive resolve to hang on for a 20-8 triumph.

Burgess said: “It was a good game to watch. We scored some nice tries and I thought we asked a lot of questions.

“But KR are a great side, they made it difficult in the second half. They threw a lot at us but I thought we were defensively sound. I was proud of our defensive effort.

“The fans might not have enjoyed that as much but, as a coach, it doesn’t get much better.”

Toby King crossed twice for the Wolves in the opening half-hour, either side of a penalty try awarded for a high tackle on Matty Ashton.

Burgess said: “I love Kingy. He’s a great bloke, a good character in the group. He is great to work with and is consistent in every game. I was happy for him.”

Rovers rallied with tries from Jack Broadbent and Mikey Lewis but the comeback fell short as the hosts dug in.

Coach Willie Peters lamented his side’s slow start and the fact all three of the Wolves’ early tries came on the visitors’ right.

“We didn’t start well,” he said. “I thought we were still in the fight and we put ourselves in a position to win but it wasn’t the start we were looking for – too many penalties, too many leg-ups and our defence was way off.

“There was a disconnect on the right edge and that’s something we need to fix.

“We have been really good with our discipline this year but you don’t want to give a team like Warrington leg-ups and easy metres upfield and we gave them that, but they played well.

“I’m taking a lot of positives. We could have been down 24, 30 at half-time, but we stayed in it and we won the second half.”