Key stats from Hull KR-Warrington Wolves semi-final

Unfortunately, Warrington Wolves emerged as the latter from their semi-final against Hull KR, with the final scoreline coming down to missed goal kicks after both sides scored two tries each.

A look at the match stats tells you just how evenly-matched the two sides were at Craven Park, given they were pretty much level in most metrics.

Indeed if anything, The Wire probably had the edge in a few of them, just edging their hosts out in terms of ground they made with the ball (5.94m per carry on average compared to 5.88m) while as a result of their late pressure on the Robins line, they edged the number of play-the-balls in the opposition 20 (26-21).

On the night, it appeared as though Hull KR had something of a physical edge – particularly early on – but the only metrics in which there is a clear difference between the two tell conflicting stories.

Robins players made more metres after contact than their visitors (621m-532m) but Warrington players broke through more tackles than their hosts (48-34).

Awesome Ashton

In terms of individuals, Matty Ashton will not have been far from the player of the match reckoning despite being on the losing side.

If there was one player who did not deserve to be among those disappointed, it was the winger who was a colossal figure for his side again even outside of the two tries he scored to drag them back into the game.

His carries from yardage often got his side out of danger and his total metreage of 152 was second only to Matt Dufty (172m) on both sides.

All three of the clean breaks Wire made were courtesy of him, while his 12 tackle busts was more than anyone else on the field.

Matty Ashton made more clean breaks and broke through more tackles than any other player (Image: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com)

Big stints from both middles

As you’d expect in this kind of game, there were some eye-watering numbers in terms of defensive output.

For Warrington, Ben Currie once again topped the tackle count with an impressive 55 – raising the bar from his season high of 54 against St Helens last week – with just two misses.

Currie was second in terms of the game as a whole to Hull KR’s Dean Hadley, who made a staggering 59 tackles.

Jai Whitbread (44) and Matty Nicholson (40) were close behind followed by James Batchelor (39), Luke Yates (38), Matt Parcell (37) and Danny Walker (36).

Yates was again impressive and ran his blood to water as the only forward on either side to make more than 100m (105).

Ben Currie (55) and Luke Yates (38) got through big tackling shifts (Image: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com)