Winger Joe Burgess is relishing reforming his old Wigan partnership with Oliver Gildart in Hull KR colours. Gildart was his centre for years at the Warriors and the big pals enjoyed plenty of success together.

But when Burgess joined Rovers last season, he played on the right wing outside Peta Hiku given Super League’s record try-scorer Ryan Hall occupied the left.

With Hall now having moved to Leeds, Burgess has switched to the left once more to play outside Gildart. Last season’s Grand Finalists have won their opening two games heading into Thursday’s battle with Salford.

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Burgess, 30, admitted: “It is good. I had a great year last year with Peta Hiku. We had some real good combinations. But it just feels so normal [with Gildart]. It’s not like I’m getting used to Gilly. It just clicked straight away.

“And when the pitches start drying up and speeding up we’ll hopefully see some good stuff.”

The 30 year-old is keen to make it three wins from three when KR take on his former club Salford this week. Red Devils, of course, are now back up to full-strength after their salary cap issues amid a takeover deal saw them restricted early on.

Burgess, who scored 18 tries in just 23 games last term, said: “They’ve only just started their season and, though they lost [against Leeds], they’ll now want to build on it.

“They’ll come out firing again, and they’ll want to put a good performance in against us. We need to keep our home ground solid.”

Rovers have needed to work hard to secure both their Super League victories so far. After Burgess scored a hat-trick, they won in golden point extra-time against Castleford before edging a narrow 14-12 success at Wakefield last Thursday.

On the latter, the ex-England international admitted: “It was a belting game—just a bit too close for comfort. Every team is going to come out firing. It’s the start of the season and everyone wants to impress.

“And because we were Grand Finalists last year and a top-two team, everyone wants to put their best performance on to beat us.

“We didn’t play badly at all. We were just matched by Wakey. We weren’t perfect in attack but we showed some desire in the end to keep them out.”