It seems a little surreal but Kieran Dixon insists he can’t remember Hull KR ’s shock Challenge Cup loss to Oldham. Admittedly, like all the Robins players that fateful day at Craven Park in 2016, he would want to forget it. Rovers, Wembley finalists the previous year, were outgunned 36-22 by the Championship part-timers who had not long since been promoted from League 1.
But winger Dixon, 32, is on the other side of the coin tonight. He arrives in east Hull in Oldham colours looking to feature in another Cup upset. Once more, the Roughyeds have just been promoted from the third tier but this time they are littered with Super League experience.
Coached by rugby league royalty Sean Long, who won the Cup five times as a player with St Helens, they signed Warrington scrum-half Josh Drinkwater, Wakefield captain Matty Ashurst, Huddersfield loose forward Adam Milner and Salford prop Gil Dudson for their return. They also recruited ex-Wigan centre Iain Thornley who, like Dixon, was also in the Robins side that Oldham defeated in 2016. Dixon scored 29 tries in 39 games for KR during his two-year stint at the club before rejoining London when Rovers were relegated in 2016.
The former England Knights international has since played with York, Leigh and Widnes, where he crossed 24 times in 38 appearances prior to his move to Oldham last July. Ahead of his return to Craven Park, he said: “I really enjoyed my time there. “It was my first move away from London and to go to a club w.
