Hull FC will face Wigan Warriors in the quarter-finals of the Betfred Challenge Cup after a 34-14 victory over Featherstone Rovers.
Despite falling behind in the first set of the game, Hull romped home in the first half, posting 34 unanswered points.
Josh Griffin continued his fine form with a double, whilst Carlos Tuimavave also notched a brace. There were also first tries of 2021 for Bureta Faraimo and Jordan Johnstone.
Team News
Brett Hodgson stayed true to his word and named a strong side to take on Rovers, making just five changes to the side that started the match against Salford last Saturday, with two of those changes enforced through injury.
Josh Reynolds and Ligi Sao were the pair to drop out through injury, replaced by Ben McNamara and Scott Taylor. Meanwhile, Marc Sneyd dropped out of the starting line-up late on as a result of a dead leg.
Faraimo came in to start on the wing, whilst Johnstone got his first competitive action of the season at hooker.
Featherstone were without a handful of players, missing the experience of Craig Kopczak, Thomas Minns and skipper James Lockwood.
Former Canterbury and Cronulla halfback/hooker Fa’amanu Brown started on the bench.
The Match
Featherstone made the best possible start to the match after winning first possession from the unconventional short kick off. At the end of the set, Dane Chisholm chipped a kick over the top and Hardcastle won the race to ground the ball.
Hull were out to prove that anything Featherstone could do, the Black & Whites could do it too. With their first possession of the ball, the Black & Whites levelled up with immediate effect as Faraimo latched onto a well-measured grubber from Houghton. Connor slotted over the conversion to give the Black & Whites the lead.
Just as quickly as Hull had posted their first points of the game, Hodgson’s side grabbed a second try. Tuimavave’s kick through wasn’t dealt with by Craig Hall and the 2020 Player of the Year picked up the loose ball. Connor’s conversion was unsuccessful.
Carrying on the trend of tries coming off the back of kicks, Griffin picked up a loose ball after McNamara’s grubber was spilled by Kris Welham.
Connor’s threat with ball in hand inside Rovers territory was shown on the 27th minute, when his perfectly-weighted pass found Griffin’s line and the 30-year-old crashed over for his fourth of the season. Connor landed the conversion to make it 22-4.
Connor wasn’t done with his exhibition of quality. As he fended off one defender, he used the other hand to flick the ball out the back door to Tuimavave, who strolled in for his brace.
As half-time loomed, Hull’s sixth try arrived and it was the best of the first half. Some lovely interchanging play between Joe Cator and Brad Fash sent Johnstone over to the left side of the sticks. Connor tagged on the extra two points.
HALF-TIME: Rovers 4-34 Hull
As they did in the first half, Featherstone opened the scoring in the second half. As Hull defended their try line, fullback Connor was tied up at marker, which left the space in behind for Ferres to capitalise on a grubber kick. Hall’s conversion struck the post.
Rovers kept piling on the pressure despite the mountain they had to climb, and Chisholm put a kick up towards the left corner for Blackmore to claim. Chisholm added the extras to make it 34-14.
FULL-TIME: Rovers 14-34 Hull
Squads & Scorers
Hull: Connor, Fonua, Tuimavave, Griffin, Faraimo, McNamara, Houghton, Taylor, Johnstone, Satae, Savelio, Ma’u, Lane
Hull Interchanges: Bowden, Cator, Fash, Scott
Hull Tries: Faraimo, Tuimavave (2), Griffin (2), Johnstone
Hull Goals: Connor (5/6)
Rovers: Hall, Blackmore, Hardcastle, Welham, Gale, Holmes, Chisholm, Halton, Parata, Harrison, Ferres, Day, McConnell
Rovers Interchanges: Brown, Cooper, Field, Moors
Rovers Tries: Hardcastle, Ferres, Blackmore
Rovers Goals: Hall (0/2), Chisholm (1/1)
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