The most incredible result in Super League’s 30-year history? There are certainly plenty of contenders but as North Yorkshire erupted in joy on the night rugby league’s big show rolled into town for the first time, it was hard to think of anything that measured up to this.
Super League’s decision to expand to 14 teams over the winter has drawn criticism, not least over concerns that the two extra sides may not have brought the sufficient quality to compete at the highest level. Yet York managed not only to get off the mark but to stun the defending, all-conquering treble winners of 2025.
Hull KR lost only five games in all competitions last season. Here, they have fallen at the first hurdle, having asked Super League for a softer opening game in anticipation of next week’s World Club Challenge against NRL champions Brisbane Broncos. To suggest it was ideal preparation would be quite the understatement.
But for once, this night is not about the Robins. This is about York, Super League’s newest expansion project – and a night which shows there is a vibrant future in this part of the world for rugby league. Many of the full house of almost 9,000 were scarcely able to believe what they had seen.
York, a part-time side as recently as four months ago, and not seen in the sport’s top flight since the 1980s, were not just underdogs here. They were huge outsiders and it looked as though it would go according to script as the Robins battled into an 18-6 lead with 20 minutes left. But the contest swung on an extraordinary moment when Hull KR and England half-back Mikey Lewis tripped his opposite number, Liam Harris, for no reason. By the time he returned from the sin bin, York had scored through Sam Wood and shortly after, with the momentum behind them, they levelled courtesy of Scott Galeano’s try, with Harris – released by Hull KR as a teenager – converting both.
The drama didn’t end there. With the crowd roaring them on and the atmosphere incredible, Harris supplied a pass for Ata Hingano, who kicked a drop goal to clinch victory and spark incredible scenes.
“I’d be lying if I said some of the lads hadn’t read it [Hull KR asking for an easier opener] and it’s not put a few backs up,” York’s victorious coach, Mark Applegarth, said. “But we’re focusing on us. I’m so proud of the lads first and foremost. “York is the right place for the game to expand into and this has shown it.”
York more than played their part in a thrilling first half, with the two sides level at half-time. Wood opened the scoring with a well-worked try before Rovers responded through Jai Whitbread’s first of the evening. Harris kicked a penalty to make it 6-6 at the break, but you always wondered if Rovers’ class would come through.
That looked to be the case as the second half began. Two tries in eight minutes, one for Whitbread and another for Sauaso Sue, made it 18-6 and suddenly, it seemed as though York’s spirit had been broken. You could almost feel the atmosphere deflate inside the stadium.
It made Lewis’s moment of madness all the more critical. “He needs to learn from what he did and he needs to action it,” Hull KR’s coach, Willie Peters, said. “Whatever you call it, a brain explosion or what, he’s the only one that can tell you what happened at the time. We didn’t handle it well.”
York could suddenly sense an opportunity. Wood claimed his second before, with Rovers still adjusting after Lewis’s return, they worked left for Galeano to mark his Super League debut with a try. Harris’s two goals made it 18-18 but the Knights still had one more magical moment in them, with Hingano sending the home support wild.
York had made no secret of the fact that they hoped this night, welcoming the reigning champions, would convince the North Yorkshire public there is a future for Super League in York. If they don’t come back in their huge numbers after this, they may never will.
York Mata’afa; Jones-Bishop, Williams, Wood, Galeano; Hingano, Harris; Va’a, McShane, Vaughan, Field, Dee, Thompson. Interchange Balmforth, Martin, Sangare, Griffin. Try Wood 2, Galeano Con Harris 2 Pen Harris DG Hingano
Hull KR Mourgue; Davies, Hiku, Gildart, Burgess; Lewis, May; Brown, Litten, Sue, Martin, Batchelor, Minchella. Interchange Broadbent, Luckley, Whitbread, Lawton.
Tries Whitbread 2, Sue Cons Martin 3 Sin bin Lewis
Referee L Rush.
