The opening Good Friday encounter was the Hull derby between an FC side coached by Tony Smith against the side which sacked him last season and now under the stewardship of Willie Peters as the fifth placed side travelled to a sold out MKM Stadium to take on the side languishing in eleventh.
At best a win for FC would raise them back above the Castleford Tigers on points difference but a win of twenty-six points or more would send KR into fourth spot ahead of the Saints and Wigan derby being played out later in the afternoon.
The visitors were slight favourites with the bookies as they were penalised four points on the handicap coupon, but the pundits thought that the game was too close to call, the stage was set for a classic encounter between the two arch enemies, two great Rivals.
It was an evenly matched opening eight minutes until Hull KR broke the deadlock. Kane Linnett tapped back a Jordan Abdull kick to the corner into the hands of Mikey Lewis who managed to get the pass to Ryan Hall under the tackle, the veteran winger walking in for the opener. Lachlan Coote added the conversion for a 6-0 lead.
Jake Clifford went close on thirteen but was stopped just short of the line and despite having tackles in the bank the KR defence held strong and forced the error.
A defensive error from FC, Jamie Shaul spilling an Abdull high kick, saw the loose ball collected by Opacic who shrugged off a tackle and walked over under the sticks. Coote added the extras for 12-0.
On twenty-six a Coote penalty goal was adequate punishment for a high tackle by FC, extending the lead to three tries.
It was all Robins pressure but a dangerous tackle from James Batchelor saw the KR man yellow carded putting the Black and Whites on the front foot. As Brad Dwyer was attempting to back over the line he was tackled low by Sauaso Sue but from the resulting penalty FC spilled the ball again and relinquished possession.
Despite repeated penalties inside their own twenty KR managed to defend their line to the half time hooter.
Jamie Shaul was on the field and keeping warm during the interval, a worrying sign for the Airlie Birds.
On forty-eight the visitors went in again when the returned James Batchelor went through a massive gap in the Hull defence to score from ten metres out off an Abdull pass. Coote hit the mark with his conversion for his fourth goal of the afternoon.
Two minutes later the game was won, Coote completing an eighty-metre break downfield with Hall doing most of the leg work, to go over in the corner and improve the angle for his own kick for 26-0. With just under half an hour left the FC fans started heading for the exits.
On fifty-six Hall grabbed his second of the game as he stretched for the line under the tackle to ground. Coote missed his first kick of the afternoon but at 30-0 with twenty-one minutes remaining it was all over for an awful Hull FC.
It was turning into a procession on fifty-nine, Hall again the provider, this time for Mikey Lewis to complete the try with a thirty-metre sprint, arm raised in celebration. Coote added the goal for 36-0, it was now a matter of what the winning margin would be.
On seventy-two Rovers were in again for their seventh unanswered try as Hall completed his hat-trick off a Lewis moss-out pass, the winger grounding by the left corner flag. Coote was unable to add the conversion from wide but as the clock ran down it was Hull KR who had a comprehensive 40-0 win.
This was as good a performance as the Robins fans and coaching staff could have dreamed of. They decimated the Black and White side of the city with a record KR win in the derby game and lifted themselves up the table while humiliating their biggest rivals and worsening their points difference below the Castleford Tigers. Half of the city will spend the rest of the weekend partying, and it is the red and white side.
Hull FC: Shaul, Swift, Sutcliffe, Tuimavave, McIntosh, McNamara, Clifford, Fash, Dwyer, Satae, Lane, Griffin, Cator. Subs: Evans, Sao, Taylor, Vulikijapani. 18th Man: Gardiner.
Hull KR: Coote (T, 6G), Wood, Opacic (T), Kenny-Dowall, Hall (3T), Lewis (T), Abdull, Kennedy, Parcell, King, Batchelor (T), Linnett, Minchella. Subs: Sue, Hadley, Litten, Luckley. 18th Man: Halton.
Half-Time: 0-14.
Full-Time: 0-40.
Score Progression: 0-4, 0-6, 0-10, 0-12, 0-14, (SB) : HT : 0-18, 0-20, 0-24, 0-26, 0-30, 0-34, 0-36, 0-40: FT.
Lead Exchanges: KR.
Referee: Jack Smith.
