HULL KR coach Justin Morgan praised Crusaders' counterpart Brian Noble for taking his side into the play-offs in his first season in charge in Wales.

Few gave Crusaders a chance of making the top eight, but with Noble's guidance they have joined the league's elite for the play-offs after their 30-24 win over Rovers.

Having seen his team come off second best at the Racecourse Ground, Morgan had no problem admitting the better side won.

"You have to give credit to the team that won," he said.

"They had a lot of pressure on their doorstep for this game and they get my congratulations, especially Brian, for making the play-offs with his third club.

"This was a big game for Crusaders as they needed to win and it was most probably a good game to watch.

"We came back well in the second half but fell away a bit towards the end.

"It was a huge effort for Brian's side. He's very rarely not in the play-offs and that is a great effort."

There weren't too many positives for Morgan to hold on to after the defeat in north Wales, just a week away from the start of the play-offs.

The return of Kris Welham at centre will have pleased the Australian and the spirit Rovers showed to come from behind at the start of the second half was another highlight.

"We came back well at different stages of the game," said Morgan.

"We got in front, but we weren't in front at the 80th minute.

"A couple of different plays worked well for us but defensively we weren't great.

"We will learn from that and we know we weren't at our best.

"We'll dust ourselves off and get ready for next week which is a whole new ball game.

"The way we played won't have any bearing on the way we play next week. I'm looking forward to sudden-death rugby.

"Conditions weren't great and we spilt some ball but we came up against a very desperate side.

"From this point onwards our focus is on the play-offs and we are looking forward to facing a side that finished above us in the table."