Andy Last has hailed the individual performance of Black & White duo Jake Connor and Bureta Faraimo for their efforts in last night’s Hull Derby victory over Hull KR.
The Black & Whites made it two out of two against the Robins in 2020 with a 31-16 victory at the Totally Wicked Stadium – a first win over the cross-city rivals for Last since taking the interim head coach position.
The win saw Hull claim the Clive Sullivan Trophy for 2020, with Jacuzzi Elite Performance Man of the Match Jake Connor and double try-scorer Bureta Faraimo helping Hull on their way to a fourth victory in five games.
Speaking after the match, Last said: “I thought it was a typical Hull Derby. The Robins came out with plenty of fire in their bellies, and were probably the better side in the opening exchanges.
“They dominated field position and we couldn’t get out of our own end whilst making some cheap errors out of yardage.
“The introduction of Chris Satae, Ligi Sao and Danny Houghton off the bench shifted the momentum in our favour. We rolled them down the field and got on the front foot.”
He continued: “We touched on our attitude at half-time, and after the break our attitude in the second-half was much better defensively. We showed a lot more line-speed and intensity in contact. Our detail in the ruck was better and we made some good attacking decisions that we scored some nice tries off the back of.
“We knew that the Robins had a lot riding on this game to help get their supporters back onside after a few poor performances, and there is no better way to do that getting a Hull Derby win, and they came out full of energy and really gave it too us – that was a bit of a shock to the system so that’s what we had to fix up a couple of attitude areas in the second-half.”
And Last held induvial praise for both Man of the Match Jake Connor, who bagged four assists on the night, and double try-scorer Bureta Faraimo.
“Jake is a talented player. Wherever he plays, at half-back or at full-back, he just wants the ball in his hands. He wants to be a big influence on the game and he did that at the back tonight.
“He is starting to learn the importance of how he controls his emotions, how he engages with the opposition and the referee and really starting to mature.
“As a group, we’re finding a level of consistency. We focus heavily on the effort areas and execution, and Jake has really responded to that. He is a talent and you don’t need to overcomplicate things for him. If he can keep up this form, we’ve got a real talent on our hands.”
He added: “Bureta has been a very good signing for us. He’s had a dry spell in terms of scoring, but he has broken his duck now.
“You can never question his industry – he comes into training with a big smile on his face every day and he’s been brilliant in recent weeks.”
On the result as a whole going into the final stages of the 2020 campaign, Last said: “It gives us great momentum. The guys are hungry and they have bought into what I have asked of them.
“They have a real spring in their step, and collectively everyone is working extremely hard together, including the staff, despite the weekly challenges of Covid-19. We’re in a really good place right now and long may it continue, however the rest of the season may look.”
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