Willie Peters has spoken on the club’s signing of Ryan Hampshire for the first time with the Hull KR coach explaining why the ex-Wigan Warriors man was recruited.

It was confirmed earlier in the season that Hampshire had been playing for the Robins’ reserves in a bid to gain match fitness following Featherstone Rovers’ administration.

However, Hull KR then signed the veteran utility to a deal until the end of the season with that news confirmed last week and Willie Peters has now spoken to BBC Radio Humberside to explain the club’s thought process behind signing Hampshire.

“We just wanted to bring some more depth in and around the spine,” Peters confirmed, adding: “Obviously, it’s a key position and we just felt that we didn’t have the depth there that we would like.

“We brought him in to train and he brought a lot of energy. He’s obviously an experienced player looking for an opportunity and he got rewarded with a contract for the rest of the season.

“He’s brought a lot of energy to the group and he’s experienced. He’s fit in really well.”

Hull KR signing ‘ready to go’

Whilst Hampshire doesn’t have an immediate route to first-team action given the fact Jack Broadbent is covering at full-back in the absence of Arthur Mourgue, Peters spoke about how vital Hampshire is in training with Hull KR better able to run opposed sessions.

He revealed: “Our training standards from the team that replicates who we’re playing against has gone up. We like to have our training standards really high and competitive which helps you on the weekend.”

As well as bringing that much-needed competition in training, Peters did confirm that Hampshire will be up for consideration to play amid praise for current stand-in Jack Broadbent.

“He’ll be in contention each week,” Peters said of Hampshire.

“Jack (Broadbent) is doing a great job for us, he got Man of the Match at the weekend and he’s starting to build his game at full-back.

“Arthur (Mourgue) is obviously on the sidelines at the moment but we know that we’ve got an experienced guy ready to go, if and when.”

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