Leave Cooke alone rages Morgan as Rovers roar

Rea, the former Harlequins coach, had claimed that the return of play-maker Paul Cooke to the Rovers line-up after a six-match suspension had had a negative effect on the side.

Morgan rapped: 'It just goes to show he doesn't know what he is talking about. It is rubbish, garbage and drivel.'

Cooke, who caused a storm last year when he quit Hull FC to join their arch-rivals, was given a lengthy ban after being found to have approached Rovers while still under contract at Hull.

He had to wait until the first Humberside derby of Super League XIII, on Good Friday, to start his season and yesterday, in his fifth appearance of the year, he helped Rovers to a memorable win.

Bradford gave Rovers a mauling twice last season but they were comprehensively beaten yesterday despite the closeness of the score.

Cooke's partnership at half back with James Webster proved far more effective than Bradford's duo of Iestyn Harris and Ben Jeffries.

Cooke set up two of Rovers' three tries and kicked four goals from as many attempts.

They ended Bradford's threematch winning sequence and denied the Bulls the chance to leapfrog St Helens, Catalans and Wigan into second place. Morgan said: 'We were the better side for the whole 80 minutes and should have won more comfortably.

'We had an enthusiasm and desire that we lacked last week.

Mick Vella, our captain, led by example and is in the best form I've ever seen, including when he played in Australia.'

Bradford, both individually and as a unit, disappointed coach Steve McNamara, who said: 'We've missed an opportunity and we're feeling pretty sore about it. We were lacking in a lot of areas. Hull KR ran harder and tackled harder.'

Referee Richard Silverwood's heavy penalty count annoyed both coaches but McNamara said: 'We made our own problems and our performance was below standard.'

With Glenn Morrison back in the starting line-up seven weeks ahead of schedule after damaging knee ligaments against the Catalans in Perpignan last month and Great Britain hooker Terry Newton back from suspension, McNamara was entitled to expect more.

But Rovers, strengthened by the return of centre Jake Webster and loose forward Scott Murrell, struck the initial blow when Ben Fisher's kick caught Semi Tadulala unawares and winger Peter Fox pounced to score.

Fox, however, knocked on from the kick-off and Tadulala, atoning for his early error, took a pass from Jeffries to give Harris the chance to level the scores with the conversion.

All that inside the first five minutes on a wet pitch.

Cooke nudged Rovers in front again with a penalty for offside before another of the titans of their pack, back row forward Clint Newton, barnstormed over from Cooke's inside pass. Cooke's conversion gave Rovers a 14-6 lead at the break.

Rovers doused Bradford's early second-half fire with their third try, centre Ben Cockayne chasing Cooke's grubber kick to get the touchdown. Cooke's conversion gave them a 14-point cushion.

It was a feisty affair and Newton enraged the home crowd with what looked a late hit on Daniel Fitzhenry. They were even more enraged when Newton was sent to the sin bin for taking out Jeffries.

Morgan said: 'There was no malice and it wasn't even late.' With Rovers a man short, Bulls gave themselves hope with a converted try by centre Paul Sykes.

It was not enough and Solomona's try, also converted by Harris, only served to make the scoreline closer than it should have been.