Round 23
Castleford Tigers 28 l. Hull KR 46

2009 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Dobson in stunning form as Hull KR maintains top four spot
Mon August 3, 2009
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Michael Dobson produced a stunning performance as he grabbed 22 points to help Hull KR significantly boost their chances of a top-four finish in the engage Super League with a convincing 46-28 win at Castleford Tigers.

The diminutive scrum-half scored two of Justin Morgan's side's eight tries - three of which went to Shaun Briscoe - and kicked seven goals to become the first man in the competition to reach 200 points for the season.

Dobson's efforts also helped his side open up a five-point cushion over their nearest rivals with just four games of the regular season remaining.

For long periods of an entertaining game it had looked as though Castleford could take the points themselves and move into the top five, but, after trailing 20-18 at the break, Rovers posted three tries in 12 minutes at the start of the second half to send themselves into the Carnegie Challenge Cup break on a high.

Having shaded a fiery local derby against Hull FC last weekend, Rovers showed little signs of fatigue in the opening stages and could have opened the scoring with six minutes gone when Liam Colbon was bundled in touch close to the post.

Following their narrow escape, the Tigers opened the scoring themselves a minute later as Brett Ferres bust his way through with a slick show-and-go move on the last play before racing clear for his 10th try of the season.

Joe Westerman added the extras and did so again five minutes later when Craig Huby added a second try for the home side, the prop forward showing surprising pace to charge clear and recover from Briscoe's ankle tap before crawling his way over.

The free-scoring opening soon rubbed off on Rovers, as Peter Fox managed to slip in at the corner for his first score in five weeks after Paul Cooke showed deft hands to collect Dobson's towering punt and redistribute it into the England winger's path.

Westerman then slotted a penalty to reclaim some of Castleford's comfort zone, but Rovers soon made easy work of wiping that out with two delightful tries in the space of three minutes.

The first came from Briscoe's close-range dart after 29 minutes, with the full-back only having to take in Cooke's sublime short pass to score, before Dobson went over for his first try which was created first by Kyle Bibb's offload and then by Daniel Fitzhenry's clever break and pass to the supporting Australian.

Dobson subsequently kicked his third conversion of the game to give his side a four-point lead.

Again, though, the lead changed hands as four minutes before the interval Castleford skipper Ryan Hudson followed up his own kick and was able to grab onto Dean Widders' offload to leap over the line.

Westerman kicked the second period off with another penalty before Rovers took a firm grip on the game with three tries in the space of 10 minutes.

The first saw Dobson snake his way over with a lightening run that caught the Castleford defence flat-footed before Clint Newton's rampaging break allowed him to team up with second-row partner Ben Galea and send Colbon crashing in at the corner.

Then, with the Tigers desperately seeking a route back into the game, Kris Welham's stinging tackle saw Westerman drop the ball close to the line, allowing Fox to race the length of the field for a 14th try of the season. Dobson's goal opened up a 12-point lead.

Kirk Netherton then supported Richard Owen's break to score against his former employers and reawaken the contest but that only lasted three minutes as Briscoe snapped up Dobson's pass to post his ninth try of the season with 13 minutes remaining.

And with Castleford's resolve now wiped out, Briscoe was able to canter in for his hat-trick score moments before the final hooter after a short pass from Cooke.

Advanced Search