York Knights head coach Mark Applegarth says there isn’t “an ounce of pressure” on his side in Saturday’s Challenge Cup quarter-final at holders Hull KR.
The Knights head to last season’s treble winners on Saturday (13:30 BST) in a game that will be live on BBC Two.
Willie Peters’ men have had a mixed start in Super League, including falling to a shock defeat at York on the opening night of the season, and Applegarth says the Robins are having to contend with the weight of their successes.
“You look at what they’ve had to deal with, with the travel to Las Vegas and peaking for a World Club Challenge and all the stuff that comes with that. They’ve had a lot to deal with,” he said.
“They’ve also had to deal with the expectation shift on them, winning all the trophies does that.
“I don’t think there’s an ounce of pressure on us on Saturday, it’s all on them. So we can go in just focusing on ourselves while they’ve got all that on them.”
The Knights started their debut season in Super League with a famous 19-18 win over the reigning champions, the week before KR beat Brisbane Broncos to win the World Club Challenge.
York have won just one of their six Super League games since that dream start and were beaten 34-14 at Huddersfield last week.
Applegarth said his first priority was to correct the issues from the defeat at the Giants.
“We weren’t happy with what we served up last week and we want to rectify that first and foremost so we can look each other in the eye knowing we’ve given it everything we’ve got,” he told BBC Radio York.
“It’s cup rugby, it’s whoever nails that 80 minutes. We’ll be going in with everything we’ve got.
“We’re not idiots, we know that Hull KR will want to avenge that round one defeat and they have their own aspirations.”
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