Hull KR are through to the Challenge Cup semi-final.
Wakefield Trinity winger Tom Johnstone said he changed his physicality after the experience of being “manhandled” in England’s Ashes defeat by Australia in November. The 30-year-old was part of Shaun Wane’s squad that was swept aside 3-0 last year. Johnstone said he has since put on some extra weight.
Johnstone Adds Weight After Ashes Experience
He will be part of the Wakefield side who host Wigan Warriors in Sunday’s Challenge Cup quarter-final, live on BBC One. “I feel good, I had a big off-season. I wasn’t quite firing where I wanted to be in the Ashes,” he told BBC Radio Leeds.
“I made a couple of changes and put on three quarters of a stone to a stone to try to be a bit bigger. I felt like I got a bit manhandled and I never want that again. I just felt it was men against boys at certain points, especially for me personally, and I didn’t enjoy that.
“I feel a lot stronger in my carries and still move pretty well. It was something I decided to switch up and so far it’s going pretty well for me.”
Hull KR Victorious; Coach Reacts
York Knights head coach Mark Applegarth told BBC Sport: “I thought KR showed exactly why they’re a champion team today. It was a disappointing start. They left us chasing our tail a little bit.”
“I can understand the disconnect given the changes we made. But one thing I am pleased with is that we kept on fighting to the end. Congratulations to Hull KR. We’ll be alright. We’ll stick together. There’s some pretty harsh lessons there but as long as we are learning, we’ll move forward.”
Applegarth added: “We weren’t naive to not know there would be some scorelines like that this year. Especially if we lost some of our key members. There’s a lot of lads hurting in there and it’s my job as coach to make sure everyone stays together and doesn’t start turning on each other. Sometimes you’ve got to tip your hat and say you were outplayed and I thought we were outplayed against Hull KR.”
Lewis Reflects on Hull KR’s Performance
Hull KR half-back Mikey Lewis told BBC Sport: “We’ve been building in the past couple of weeks and it’s another good stepping stone today.”
“We’re more focussed on ourselves. We didn’t know what team York would put out and we put the focus on being dominant and building our game. We did that in the first half but we were a bit scrappy in the second half. But it doesn’t matter because we’re in the semi-final.”
Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam said he hopes his side mount a response when they face Warrington Wolves again in the second of today’s two Challenge Cup fixtures.
Wakefield take on Wigan tomorrow.