Hull FC’s U18s failed to reach their first Academy Championship Grand Final since 2007, with a 34-14 Semi-Final defeat to St Helens U18s at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Hull enjoyed a positive opening half-hour in the match after Logan Moy drew first blood for the visitors, but three quickfire tries George Delaney, McKenzie Buckley and Ben Will before the break put the hosts in control at the interval.
Michael Shenton’s sides showed glimmers of a possible comeback after the restart with tries scored by Brandon Wright and Mason Opie-Palmer from smart kicks, but the league leaders demonstrated their dominance by scoring three more tries as Buckley sealed a double and halfback Will Roberts claimed a brace of his own.
The Match
Hull had a superb chance to open the scoring in the first set of the game, with Opie-Palmer supporting Denive Balmforth’s break from his own half. After the centre was desperately hauled to the floor before he reached the whitewash, Hull couldn’t convert on the next play as Keiran Masike couldn’t take in Balmforth’s pass from dummy half.
Much of the early stages though would see the hosts maintain possession. FC managed to keep their opponents scoreless in the opening ten minutes though, with Opie-Palmer amongst the action once again, completing two gallant try-saving tackles on his own whitewash.
Hull did well to wrestle back control in the game and it looked as though they had hit the front when Sully Medforth and Logan Moy combined effectively on a scrum play to force a two-on-two in the left corner, but Manoa Wacokecoke’s pass to send winger Lewis Martin in was judged to have drifted forwards.
Hull did take the lead not long afterwards, though, and it was fullback Moy who stepped off his right foot to dance over the try line.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to respond as George Delaney outmuscled Callum Chapman-Peterson in a one-on-one contest underneath the posts to finish a strong individual move.
And the hosts made it a quick double when Buckley beat Masike to catch a towering Ellis Archer kick and race over the try line.
In their attempts to restore parity, a sweeping Hull FC move to the left edge resulted in the ball going to ground, allowing Will to swoop and race 90 metres to give Saints a 14-point advantage at the break.
HALF-TIME: Saints 18-4 Hull
Despite being hit with three heavy blows in the closing stages of the first-half, FC’s youngsters showed some guts as they registered the first points of the second-half. Lovely, deceptive dummy-half play from Chapman-Peterson drew a couple of Saints defenders from the try line, before he slid a measured grubber kick in for Wright to pounce upon beneath the uprights.
Having dropped the kick-off restart, Hull once again demonstrated their strong character and maintained a level head to repel several waves of attack, holding Saints up over the whitewash on three occasions in a brutal two-minute spell.
As the pressure continued to build, Saints found themselves 12 points up again as Roberts jinked through a narrow gap in the Hull defence courtesy of some neat footwork.
But at no point throughout the afternoon could FC’s determination be put into question. Their tennacity came to the fore again around the hour mark when Opie-Palmer collected a dropped Sully Medforth kick to stroll in for Hull’s third of the afternoon. Medforth couldn’t tag on the extras, though, leaving FC 22-14 behind.
The hosts went over for an important score to put themselves back in control with 15 minutes to play as Buckley supported a cutthroat Roberts break in the FC half to score.
Roberts himself, who bagged a hat-trick when these two sides met at Blackbrook just over a month ago, rubber stamped the victory with his second of the afternoon, supporting a Buckley break as the back-rower unselfishly supplied the pass to beat the FC fullback.
FULL-TIME: Saints 34-14 Hull
Squads & Scorers
Hull: Moy, Masike, Opie-Palmer, Wacokecoke, Martin, Harman, Medforth, Laidlaw, Balmforth, Dulson, Bursell, Jebson, Armstrong
Hull Interchanges: Chapman-Peterson, Mafi, Thompson, Wright
Hull Tries: Moy, Wright, Opie-Palmer
Hull Goals: Medforth (1/3)
Saints: Lane, Will, Vaughan, Sambou, Gilford, Archer, Roberts, Delaney, Peposhi, Cowen, Buckley, Pyke, Dean
Saints Interchanges: Bannerman, McGucken, Nolan, Stephens
Saints Tries: Delaney, Buckley (2), Will, Roberts (2)
Saints Goals: Roberts (5/6)
STORY SPONSOR
