Hull FC marched into the quarter-finals of the Betfred Challenge Cup on a sunny afternoon in West Yorkshire on Sunday.
The Black & Whites were in control for much of the contest, with Adam Swift bagging a hat-trick and further tries from Josh Griffin, Jordan Lane and a Tucker M&E Try of the Season contender from Jack Brown.
Team News
Tony Smith made five changes from the side that was victorious over Wakefield Trinity last week.
Smith welcomed back Brad Fash, Joe Cator and Tex Hoy from injury, all of who lined up from the start on a baking hot afternoon in West Yorkshire. Will Gardiner returned from the interchange bench after missing Hull’s last two fixtures, whilst Nick Staveley made his Hull debut after impressing with dual-registration partners Newcastle Thunder.
Missing out for Hull after Thursday’s win were Scott Taylor (suspension), Davy Litten (ankle), Ligi Sao (knee), as well as Joe Lovodua who was the unlucky player to be named 18th Man, and Darnell McIntosh.
Hull remained without Mitieli Vulikijapani (knee) and youngsters Charlie Severs and Kye Armstrong (both knee).
Andy Last was forced into wholesale changes to his team that was beaten last week by Catalans Dragons.
As many as eight players dropped out of Last’s team for both sides opening fixture in the Betfred Challenge Cup, namely Niall Evalds (pec) Bureta Faraimo (suspension), Elliot Wallis (Cup Tied), Gareth Widdop (ankle), Jacob Miller (concussion), Adam Milner, Luis Johnson (returned to parent club) and Liam Watts (suspension).
In their place came former Black & Whites Mahe Fonua, Jordan Turner and Jacob Hookem, with Alex Sutcliffe, Brad Martin, Muizz Mustapha, Cain Robb and City of Hull Academy graduate Will Tate.
The Match
Hull were much the better side in the first half, and the half-time scoreline reflected their dominance.
Hull thought they’d got off to the perfect start when Jake Clifford went the length of the field in the first two minutes of the game, but after review from video referee Ben Thaler a penalty was awarded to Castleford for a ball steal.
However, it didn’t take long for Hull to break the deadlock, as Josh Griffin ran a hard line outside Tex Hoy on the last tackle, and Hoy gave him the pass with plenty of space to slam the ball down underneath the posts.
Hull were the next to score after some magic from Jake Clifford. The silky halfback grubber kicked the ball through the Castleford line on the last tackle, gathered it himself and gave a simple pass to Adam Swift as bodies flooded though in support, and Swift had a walk in to score in the corner.
The Black & Whites extended their lead as Swift grabbed his second try of the afternoon, though this time he had more work to do. Another wide pass from Clifford created space for Tex Hoy and Liam Sutcliffe to get on the outside of the Tigers defence. Simple hands from Sutcliffe gave Swift the space to fly in in the corner acrobatically, after a review from the video referee.
The Black & Whites asserted their dominance with perhaps the best score of the afternoon through Jack Brown. More nice play from Clifford; who won the Peregrine Property Man of the Match, sent Josh Griffin through a gap in the Cas defensive line. Griffin found a pass to Tex Hoy, who returned it to Clifford. Clifford was hauled down but showed great composure to offload to Liam Sutcliffe. The ball moved further to Jake Trueman who could’ve probably scored himself, but unselfishly passed to Jack Brown to slide in and score.
Castleford got on the scoresheet before the break, as back-to-back Challenge Cup winner Mahe Fonua powered over in the corner under pressure from Liam Sutcliffe from Alex Sutcliffe’s wide pass.
HALF-TIME: Tigers 4-22 Hull
Although the Tigers had reduced the deficit ahead of the break, any hopes of a comeback were extinguished within five minutes of the restart.
Jordan Lane got the scoreboard moving for the first time this season, running a trademark line on the outside of Jake Trueman, who gave Lane a simple pass to fend off Paul McShane and cross.
Adam Swift was next to cross to complete his hat-trick, his first since scoring one against Hull for St Helens in 2019. The former Saints winger was again the beneficiary of nice work from Jake Clifford on the inside to stroll in, but the field position was down to a near length of the field break from Swift himself.
Castleford scored the next try, which turned out to be the last of the afternoon after sustained pressure on the Black & Whites line, taking advantage of a scrum 10 meters out for former City of Hull Academy winger Will Tate to get his first try in Castleford colours.
Although that turned out to be the last of the afternoon, Hull went over twice more.
First, Josh Griffin looked to have scored his second but Liam Moore awarded a knock on without referring to video referee Ben Thaler. So convinced he was that he’d scored, Griffin protested the decision and was sent to the sin bin for his troubles.
To round off the afternoon, 12-man Hull thought they were in again in the corner, but Cam Scott was unlucky to be judged to have just lost his grip on the ball before grounding in the corner.
FULL-TIME: Tigers 8-32 Hull
The Line-Ups
Castleford Tigers: Jack Broadbent, Mahe Fonua, Alex Sutcliffe, Jordan Turner, Will Tate, Joe Westerman, Paul McShane, Nathan Massey, George Lawler, Suaia Matagi, Brad Martin, Alex Mellor, Sam Hall; George Griffin, Muizz Mustapha, Cain Robb, Jacob Hookem
Hull FC: Tex Hoy, Cam Scott, Carlos Tuimavave, Liam Sutcliffe, Adam Swift, Jake Trueman, Jake Clifford, Chris Satae, Danny Houghton, Brad Fash, Josh Griffin, Jordan Lane, Joe Cator; Jack Brown, Will Gardiner, Nick Staveley, Brad Dwyer
The Scorers
Castleford Tigers: Mahe Fonua, Will Tate | Paul McShane (0/1), Jacob Hookem (0/1)
Hull FC: Josh Griffin, Adam Swift (3), Jack Brown, Jordan Lane | Jake Clifford (4/6)
Attendance, in association with Garbutts: 4249
Peregrine Property Man of the Match: Jake Clifford
STORY SPONSOR
