THE exuberance of youth mixed with a blend of experience failed to come up with the right result for Hull KR in Jason Netherton's final game for the club against Halifax.
Robins coach Chris Chester lamented the lack of support his senior professionals gave to protect the KR youngsters, in what was a sprightly-looking red and white squad for the 46-16 reverse.
Kieran Dixon, James Donaldson, Greg Burke and John Boudebza all made their debuts at the KC Lightstream Stadium from the 13 new off-season signings. But with just four weeks until Super League comes back around for a 20th season, Chester realised there's plenty to work on ahead of this weekend's derby with Hull FC, despite seeing many positives from the majority of the under-19s.
"We put a youngish team out there as an indication of where our kids are in their development, and some of them put their hands up and some of them didn't," he told the Mail.
"I was a bit disappointed some of the senior players didn't do more to lead from the front and protect the younger kids, but we got out of it what we needed as a first hit-out.
"We'll probably have a new back-line, a new set of halves and a new forward pack against Hull FC. Some of the players who played here put their hands up as well and made it very difficult for me not to play them next week.
"We'll get a better indication of where we're at next week against Hull. We'll be going over there with a strong squad and there'll be no excuses."
True to his word, there were few excuses for the opening 10 minutes as Rovers fell behind in a point-a-minute scoreline.
Former Hull FC man Tommy Saxton crept in at the corner following slick passing from Dane Manning.
Minutes later, Halifax exploited gaping holes on the KR flanks. A 70m break from Ben Kaye was only halted through the blistering pace of KR's Dixon. However, with bodies stretched, Halifax capitalised and a neat grubber from Ben Johnston was kindly collected by centre Ben Heaton. Former Robins favourite Scott Murrell landed the touchline extras.
A few moans and groans emerged from the East Stand, but the healthy Robins crowd were soon celebrating as Kris Welham pulled one back, latching onto an inch-perfect grubber from Keal Carlile, trusted with the play-making boots at scrum-half. Dixon's simple conversion reduced the deficit to four.
Manning barged his way through sloppy defence from Graeme Horne and Liam Salter to score, before Matty Marsh was instrumental in drawing Rovers back level at the break.
First, Dixon scooped up a beautiful grubber from the play-maker to score his first in KR colours, before Marsh's bomb swirled in the testing conditions and Horne was on hand to barge over on the stroke of half-time.
Just like the first half, KR fell asleep at the start of the second as Halifax took the lead through Steve Tyrer's converted score, following up a sweet cut-out pass from Matt Place. More worryingly, Marsh headed straight down the tunnel, assisted by the KR physios, after suffering a dead leg in the build-up.
Greenwood got on the board through a dubious touchdown in the corner, before a late brace from prop Luke Ambler, with a Chris Taylor score sandwiched in between, killed the game.
A rude awakening to 2015 perhaps for Rovers, but the youngsters' development and the blowing off of the cobwebs was key against a full-strength Halifax side. Sterner tests lie ahead, with the small prospect of a derby friendly at the KC next on the horizon.
