A brave second-half comeback was not enough to save Wigan going down to a hugely-disappointing 26-16 home defeat at the hands of Super League new-boys Hull KR.

Five unanswered first-half tries had seen the visitors go in at half-time with an unbelievable 26-0 lead over a Warriors side who were roundly booed off at the interval by a disbelieving JJB Stadium crowd.

Byron Ford (2), Ben Fisher, Luke Dyer and Gareth Morton crossed for Rovers and, if Morton's goalkicking had been a little more accurate, it could have been even worse for the shell-shocked Warriors, who were without Trent Barrett - and how it showed.

Mark Calderwood, Shane Millard and Sean O'Loughlin crossed in the space of eight minutes after the break to raise hopes of an unlikely victory.

But, try as they might, Wigan could not grab the further two scores they required, despite Gareth Hock twice being held up on his back, as the damage inflicted in the first-half proved too much to overcome.

The visitors had been waiting years for trips like this, and wasted no time in showing they meant business.

Five decent drives from the kick-off preceded a fine kick downtown from James Webster which, although it was fielded by Chris Ashton, saw the Wigan full-back slip into touch on his own 10-yard line.

And Rovers took full advantage when quick hands left saw Ford squeeze in at the corner.

Morton missed the difficult conversion, but he slotted over a penalty two minutes later when Wigan strayed offside bang in front of the posts.

The home side tried to hit back but were hampered by some extremely sloppy handling, although they nearly levelled the scores after 15 minutes.

A clever kick from scrum-half Thomas Leuluai bounced back off the crossbar, but the following Michael Withers was held up over the line by some desperate defence.

And Rovers took full advantage almost immediately when Webster kicked ahead for Ford to just beat Mark Calderwood to the touchdown.

The Warriors were offering very little in attack, and it was no surprise when Rovers extended their lead through hooker Fisher who wriggled through some awful defence to reach the line, Morton's second goal making it 16-0 to audible booing from the Wigan supporters.

Wigan were given a lifeline after half an hour when Rovers were reduced to 12 men, Jason Netherton sin-binned for a late charge on Leuluai, who had kicked downfield.

But they still could not break through, and instead it was the visitors who scored next, going further ahead when Morton's kick into the right-hand corner found a totally unmarked Luke Dyer, who only had to fall over to score.

Morton's conversion from the touchline hit the upright and bounced away, but it did not matter because the Rovers centre scored himself in the dying seconds of the half after some more woeful tackling, and he this time converted for a 26-0 lead.

Wigan knew they had to score first and score fast at the start of the second period to have any chance of getting back into the game, but Phil Bailey's risky pass in a two-man tackle went to ground and brought more groans from the stands.

However, Bailey made amends after 49 minutes when he put Calderwood in at the corner.

Then, straight from the kick-off, Calderwood broke down the right and the supporting Sean O'Loughlin was taken out by Chris Chester at the expense of another sin-binning.

Leuluai immediately put Shane Millard in under the sticks, with Pat Richards gaoling, to make it 26-10 and game on.

And an unlikely comeback was looking increasingly likely when skipper O'Loughlin took a short ball from Leuluai at express pace to score. Richards was again on the mark to cut the gap to 10 with 23 minutes still remaining.

The Warriors were unlucky not to get closer with 13 minutes remaining when a Leuluai kick bounced awkwardly and was just seized by Ford with three Warriors waiting to pounce.

Just seconds later Gareth Hock could not take a Leuluai short ball with the line at his mercy as the visitors held on for dear life, with Hock then twice held up on his back in the dying stages.