Hull Kingston Rovers star man Mikey Lewis inspired a comfortable win at Catalans Dragons to end the Super League leaders’ two-match losing streak.
The reigning Man of Steel scored two tries and made one of Jack Broadbent’s two to ensure the Robins opened up a four-point lead at the top of the table, following a shock home defeat for second-placed Wigan Warriors earlier on Saturday.
Lewis suffered a head injury against Leeds Rhinos which forced him out of both that defeat and the following week’s reverse at Leigh Leopards, but he returned to give shape and strategy to Willie Peters’ side.
Joe Burgess added another two tries and Catalans, who found it hard to break through a solid Rovers rearguard, could only reply with a consolation from Romain Navarrete.
Those back-to-back defeats were not all about the absence of Lewis, as the Robins were also sloppy defensively, conceding more points in those two games than they had in the previous seven.
That had clearly also been worked on, although the Dragons, who have won one of their last 10 games in all competitions, were poor in attack and contributed to their own downfall with some bad errors.
Tyrone May bounced out of a weak tackle to slip the ball to Broadbent for the opening try, and Peta Hiku fumbled a simple catch from Lewis’ precise lobbed kick as the Robins laid siege to the home team’s line.
Lewis showed him how to do it as he raced on to Sam Luckley’s offload to score, and two video reviews denied him a first half hat-trick. The first spotted Broadbent had knocked on before freeing Lewis and the second noticed the stand-off had dropped the ball as he touched down.
The league leaders made sure in the second half.
Burgess raced clear from Broadbent’s pass, with Broadbent then grabbing his second from another slick Lewis pass.
Catalans found some relief as Alrix Da Costa’s kick was pounced on by Navarrete but the French side fell apart in the closing stages, with two wayward Cesar Rouge passes gifting tries to their opponents.
Lewis capitalised on the first, kicking the ball ahead and sprinting away to make it 17 tries for the season, and Burgess picked up the other to round off a win that keeps the Robins favourites to win the League Leaders Shield.
