Hull FC’s interim head coach Andy Last has described his delight as the Black & Whites progressed though to the Betfred Super League play-off semi-finals courtesy of an impressive victory over Warrington at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The Airlie Birds ran out 27-14 winners over hot-favourite Warrington, with tries from Bureta Faraimo, Joe Cator, Chris Satae and Jake Connor being enough for FC to secure a semi-final place against Wigan Warriors next week.
Speaking after the match, Last said: “I’m absolutely delighted. To get a performance like that makes me really proud of the playing group – we needed our best eighty minute performance and we got that.
“It was a real team performance. In the week we spoke about aiming up and trying to beat your opposite number, and I thought everyone in the squad did that. It was a solid team effort and the individuals within that team did their own jobs really well. The players are bouncing. We nearly took the roof off the stand singing Old Faithful!
He added: “Six months ago, those errors we made at the start of the second-half would have resulted in plenty of points being scored against us. But we showed a great resilience in try-line defence and that is down to the hard work we’ve been doing on the training field and the buy-in we’ve had within the group. It was a frustrating period but we battled through it.
“Tonight was no good for my nerves, and I’ve certainty got a bit greyer. The 37 minutes in the second-half after Chris Satae’s try was the longest 37 minutes of my life!”
Last picked out the individual performance of both Jacuzzi Elite Performance Man of the Match Marc Sneyd, and Josh Griffin, who played the game despite suffering a car accident earlier in the day.
“In the big games, Sneydy’s temperament and game management is excellence.
“He wasn’t happy at half-time with some of his defensive efforts, but I said to him before the game that I needed him to be our Man of the Match, and if he did that then we would win the game. He went out there and did that and gave a great account of himself. He is the man to step up on the big occasion.
On Griffin’s incident, he added: “That’s just the normal game-day protocol for Hull FC – I have horrendous anxiety on a game day because every game day, something bad seems to happen! Whether it being somebody stood down with Covid-19 matters or whatever else.
“The panic set in and I spoke to Griff straight away; somebody pulled out on him when he was taking his lad to the park this morning. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and he managed to swerve out of the way with just a little bit of damage in the end – he didn’t look like it had bothered him the way he played tonight!”
Looking ahead to next week’s play-off semi-final against League Leaders Shield winners Wigan Warriors, Last admits the task gets no easier with Hull now just eighty minutes away from a Super League Grand Final at the KCOM Stadium.
“It doesn’t get any easier next week. They’re the League Leaders and they gave us a real lesson in the Challenge Cup quarter-final.
“We’ll have to improve even more on tonight’s performance next week, but we are eighty minutes away from playing in a Grand Final, so if that doesn’t motivate the group, nothing will.
“We’ve got momentum, and we’re match-hardened. But Wigan are a great side and they will cause us some real problems with some big individuals.
“To get to a Grand Final, you have to beat the top teams. We want that trophy and the only way to do it is the hard way. They are an exceptional side and so hard to play against – really well coached and we will have to step it up once again.”
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