Hull Kingston Rovers coach Justin Morgan spoke of his pride after guiding his club to a place in engage Super League.

Rovers booked a return to the top flight after a 12-year absence with an impressive 29-16 win over Widnes Vikings in the LHF National League One Grand Final at Warrington.

"I'm hugely proud of them," said Morgan, who at 31 will be the youngest coach in engage Super League.

"I think we saw the determination that has driven this team all year. They've worked very hard for 11 months and they've become very close.

"I'm very privileged to be able to coach a bunch of players like this and go down in the history by getting Hull Kingston Rovers into Super League.

"I'm so proud they've done it for the fans because there are some people in the east part of Hull who have been waiting a very very long time for this to happen."

The Vikings were swept aside in a blistering opening in which the East Yorkshire club scored three tries in the first 25 minutes through Byron Ford, Jon Goddard and Scott Murrell to build an unassailable 16-0 lead.

Morgan, whose side were refreshed after playing just one match in the previous three weeks, admitted it had been their plan to blitz the opposition in the first quarter.

"We hadn't played for two weeks but I was very confident that we were fresh and ready to go," he said.

"The first 20 and 30 minutes is the most important and we intended to keep the ball in play. We knew it was going to be tough on our lungs but the players bought into that concept and it certainly paid dividends.

"I thought the first 40 minutes was the best we've played all year. We kicked exceptionally well, we had a great attitude defensively and our kick-chase was spot on.

"We just showed a real spring in our step and it took away Widnes' energy levels.

"They came back in the second half but the platform was paid and the little general James Webster just directed us around perfectly."

Widnes coach Steve McCormack, who experienced Grand Final defeat for the third year in a row after twice losing with Whitehaven, admitted his side had no answer to Rovers' blazing start.

They trailed 22-4 at half-time but salvaged their pride with second-half tries from Ryan Tandy and Damien Blanch.

"This feeling is worse than ever," said McCormack. "We knew what Hull KR would do. They started a lot quicker.

"They looked quicker around the play-the-balls and their kick-chase was outstanding. Justin deserves a big rap. They've been fantastic all year.

"But I'm very proud of the way my team responded when they could have crumbled. We were just left with too much to do."

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