Kear hails fitting success

John Kear believes his side's dramatic win over Hull KR was a fitting tribute to the late David Topliss.

The former Great Britain captain, a legend with the Wakefield club, passed away on Monday aged 58, but his former side roused themselves sufficiently to come from 18-4 down with 11 minutes left to win 26-18 and move up to fourth in the engage Super League.

"We spoke about that before and it has been tough," admitted Kear. "On Monday everybody was bouncing and there were queues for semi-final tickets. There was a great buzz and then that just knocked the wind out of our sails."

He added: "David is a guy that everybody knew. He wasn't a past player that none of the players knew, he was a guy that everybody knew and we were all very fond of him.

"I'm delighted with the response, because that reflects the spirit and character of the club and obviously David Topliss is an integral part of that."

Two tries from Brad Drew were a key factor in their late revival and Kear pointed to his leadership as being crucial to the win.

"The win typifies the group and the never say die attitude," he said. "Put that with a bit of skill and you come up with a very special last 15 minutes or so but it was very tough until then.

"Hull KR played the first half very well and we couldn't get out of our own quarter.

"Come the third quarter of the match I thought it had taken the petrol out of our tank but the reintroduction of Brad Drew sparked everyone up again, he was fantastic for that last 15 minutes.

"You need leaders to be inspirational and Brad was tonight and once he did, the rest followed. That's what you have quality and experienced players for."