Image source, SWPixImage caption, Mason Lino was making his 100th Super League appearance in Wakefield Trinity's win against Hull KR
ByJay FreemanBBC Sport England- Published2 hours ago
Betfred Super League
Wakefield (16) 26
Tries: Pratt, Scott, Rourke, Storton, Lino Goals: Lino 3
Hull KR (12) 24
Tries: Lewis, Whitbread, Luckley, May Goals: Lewis 2, Martin 2
Wakefield Trinity left it late to beat Hull KR in a tempestuous Super League fixture that saw both sides have a player sent off.
The hosts trailed the champions 24-20 going into the final two minutes when Mason Lino scored and converted a dramatic late try on his 100th Super League appearance to seal a sensational win which lifted Trinity to third in the table.
Oli Pratt had scored his 15th try of the season to put Wakefield ahead and, after Mikey Lewis replied, Cam Scott and Josh Rourke crossed to move the hosts further ahead.
Hull KR's Jai Whitbread and Trinity's Matty Storton traded tries either side of the break before Sam Luckley's score kept Hull KR in it.
Both sides played the final 20 minutes with 12 players as Storton and Sauaso Sue were sent off for separate incidents within a minute of each other.
Tyrone May crossed to put Hull KR ahead for the first time before Lino's thrilling late intervention.
It was a fitting finale on what was an emotional afternoon for Wakefield as they paid tribute to former coach John Kear before kick-off, following his passing last week.
For Hull KR, the defeat was their second successive loss, having been well beaten by Wigan in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley last weekend.
Pratt's opener came after an attritional opening quarter of an hour, with Mike McMeeken and Lino playing a key role in setting him up to spin over and touch down.
Pratt's quick turn at the line before crossing caught Lewis out as he tried to cover, with the Robins stand-off crashing over the advertising hoardings and into the travelling fans, leading to him receiving treatment before Lino's successful conversion.
Shortly after, Lino was sent to the bin for a forearm to the head of Hull KR's Joe Burgess, who himself was sin-binned for kicking out in response.
In the interim, Hull KR pulled level when Lewis crashed over and converted his own try, but Scott prospered from a fortuitous bounce from a high Tom Johnstone kick to go in and restore Trinity's lead.
Wakefield's best was yet to come as Curtis Faatili, having strong-armed Jez Litten in the tackle, offloaded for Rourke to go through, weaving his way past Jack Broadbent on the way to scoring from distance.
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Rovers hit back immediately, however, as May was allowed the time and space to put in a pinpoint kick to goal which was duly met by the onrushing Whitbread, with Lewis adding the extras to cut Wakefield's half-time lead to four points.
Storton shrugged off several tackle attempts to go in two minutes into the second half but Luckley crashed over under pressure from Johnstone and Pratt to pull KR back to within two.
Soon after, Storton saw red for catching the head of James Batchelor with his shoulder when racing into the tackle.
But just a minute later, the Robins were also reduced to 12 when Sue put in a reckless swinging arm on Tray Lolesio, who was forced to leave the field for a head injury assessment.
May danced through having opted to run rather than pass to edge Hull KR ahead, with Rhyse Martin adding the extras to pad their advantage out to four points, and Peta Hiku thought he had crossed to win the game, only to have his effort chalked off after a lengthy review by video referee Liam Rush.
Instead it was Wakefield who earned the win, as Lino crashed over and then converted his own score to send the home fans into ecstasy.
Wakefield Trinity forward Mike McMeeken told BBC Sport:
"I had goosebumps when the crowd went up. You could feel the spirit of John Kear in the crowd.
"Mason Lino has showed his class over the past two years. Him and Jake Trueman today controlled the game. When he came back on from the sin-bin he really took control of the game.
"Last year was a real confidence-building experience. We had players who'd never played in Super League before at 20 or 21 years of ages and they've really grown into the game."
Wakefield: Rourke; Pratt, Scott, Hall, Johnstone; Trueman, Lino; McMeeken, Smoothy, Rodwell, Storton, Vagana, Tevaga.
Interchanges: Pitts, Hamlin-Uele, Faatili, Lolesio.
Sent off: Storton (60)
Sin-bin: Lino (21)
Hull KR: Broadbent; Davies, Hiku, Gildart, Burgess; Lewis, May; Sue, Litten, Amone, Lawton, Batchelor, Minchella.
Interchanges: Luckley, Whitbread, Martin, Dezaria.
Sent off: Sue (62)
Sin-bin: Burgess (21)
Referee: Aaron Moore.
