Despite a gallant second-half comeback attempt, Hull FC Under 18s suffered their first defeat of the 2022 Academy Championship season to Leeds Rhinos in hot conditions at the University of Hull.
The visitors capitalised on a sluggish start from the hosts as Riley Lumb’s opener was followed by a Alfie Edgell brace.
Hull cut the deficit from 18-0 to 18-16 within fifteen minutes at the start of the second half, but Leeds managed the game well just before the Black & Whites could take the lead, scoring late tries through Kai Morgan and Neil Tchamambe to secure a 28-16 win.
The Match
The Rhinos, looking to respond from their defeat to St Helens last time out, got a strong start to the game and took advantage of a slow Hull start, taking the lead after eight minutes as Lumb scored off an early scrum play from 20 metres out.
Poor marker play invited Edgell to break away out of dummy half, rounding Hull fullback Moy to double the Leeds advantage.
Hull thought they had their first points of the game after a wide ball was knocked down by Leeds and picked up to score by Zach Jebson on the free play, but the referee’s whistle had already blown and the try was ruled out.
Much to the hosts’ frustrations, Leeds had a third after 25 minutes and it was Edgell once again capitalising on some sloppy marker defending from Hull.
HALF-TIME: Hull 0-18 Rhinos
After adopting an alternative approach to the game at the start of the second half, Hull suddenly got Leeds on the ropes when Stipetic wrestled free of the first tackle to ground the ball just a couple of minutes after the restart.
Stipetic thought he had a second after receiving a short tip on pass to the right side of the sticks. Despite the young prop being held up, Hull loaded up the shortside from the ten-metre restart and Moy peeled out of the back gloriously before firing a superb cutout pass for Shaw to dive over in the right corner.
Just a few minutes later, Hull grabbed their third try in quick succession as Mackenzie Harman delayed the pass to Moy, who threw a dummy to slice through the Rhinos’ defence.
Leeds hadn’t touched the ball since Stipetic registered Hull’s first points of the afternoon, but once they repelled another FC attack, Chev Walker’s side wrestled their way into the battle and regained some level of control in the game to stop the flurry of points.
As Hull looked to play the patient game, the referee penalised the hosts for a high tackle inside the Rhinos’ half, relieving a tonne of pressure for Leeds. Once they got to the other end of the field, they pulled the trigger on the last play as Morgan grubber-kicked through for himself and dotted down just before the ball ran dead. The scrum-half converted his own try to make it 24-16 with just ten minutes remaining.
The game then looked beyond Michael Shenton’s youngsters when Nick Staveley was sin-binned for a late hit on Morgan after he sent a kick airborne.
It was in the following set that the Rhinos punished FC. Lumb came out of the back, drawing in wing man Lewis Martin and looping a pass over the top for Tchamambe to stroll in at the right corner.
FULL-TIME: Hull 16-28 Rhinos
Squads & Scorers
Hull: Moy, Shaw, Masike, Opie-Palmer, Martin, Harman, Medforth, Thompson, Balmforth, Staveley, Bursell, Jebson, Armstrong
Hull Interchanges: Chapman-Peterson, Mafi, Stipetic, Wright
Hull Tries: Stipetic, Shaw, Moy
Hull Goals: Medforth (2/3)
Rhinos: Edgell, Lumb, Smith, G atus, Tchmambe, Tuohey, Morgan, Higgins, Aldridge, Littlewood, Davies, Johnson, Robinson
Rhinos Interchanges: Frater, Gilmore, Morgan, Spear
Rhinos Tries: Lumb, Edgell (2), Morgan, Tchamambe
Rhinos Goals: Morgan (4/5)
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