Hull Kingston Rovers withstood a ferocious second-half fightback by NRL winners Brisbane Broncos to triumph in the World Club Challenge.
The reigning Super League champions, who recovered from the brink of extinction in the past 25 years to win the domestic treble, shocked the Australian side in an astonishing first half.
Mikey Lewis’ kicking game forced a series of errors from the Broncos and tries from debutant Tom Amone, Elliot Minchella, Joe Burgess, Oliver Gildart and Peta Hiku opened up a 30-4 lead, with Gehamat Shibasaki conjuring the only reply.
Broncos, who came from behind three times in the NRL finals series last year to eventually take the title, then scored four tries in 16 minutes through Patrick Carrigan, Deine Mariner, Shibasaki again and Kotoni Staggs as the 24,000 fans inside the MKM Stadium looked on in growing disbelief.
In a tense finale, the exhausted Robins somehow held out to become only the sixth English club to win the competition since it became a regular feature in 1987.
The win means Hull KR now hold all four major titles, the first club to do so since St Helens in 2006-07.
The Robins, who suffered a shock defeat by promoted York City Knights when they began the defence of their Super League title last week, showed no such weakness as they stormed straight onto the attack, with Lewis testing the visitors with his kicking game.
Broncos looked rusty as they played their first game since beating Melbourne Storm in the NRL Grand Final in October, and came up with a series of errors, Amone racing onto Tyrone May’s grubber kick to open the scoring.
When Reece Walsh, who combined both his mercurial brilliance with the occasional error, knocked on another Lewis bomb, Robins drove home their advantage as the excellent Jez Litten sent Minchella bursting over the line.
A Staggs knock-on gave Willie Peters’ side another great attacking platform and Litten’s kick sent Joe Burgess, who scored a hat-trick for Wigan Warriors against Cronulla Sharks in the 2017 World Club Challenge, in for another try.
Broncos were shocked but they suddenly burst into life with a dangerous attack down the right and quick switch through Walsh’s kick, brilliantly fielded by Josiah Karabani on the touchline to put Shibasaki in.
It seemed like the first try of the second half would be vital, and so it proved as Lewis pumped up another high ball, Mariner spilled it and Jai Whitbread quickly fed Oliver GIldart, another scorer for Wigan against Cronulla nine years ago.
When Hiku raced through to touch down another excellent May kick, it seemed the contest was over with Hull KR’s 26-point lead, but that reckoned without the Broncos’ remarkable powers of recovery.
In the space of two minutes Carrigan supported Ben Talty’s line break to score and then Mariner sprinted past Lewis to bag another.
The jubilant home fans started to settle into a tense disquiet as Walsh teed up Shibasaki for his second try and Broncos’ third in five minutes, and with a few minutes left Staggs grabbed another with Adam Reynolds crucially missing the conversion.
Reynolds’ three missed conversions on the night, compared to two conversions from Arthur Mourgue – before he went off with a shoulder injury – and three more from Rhyse Martin, proved to be the difference between the sides on the night.
