Hull FC were second best in East Hull on Derby Day, in a disappointing afternoon for the Black & Whites.
Second half-tries from Jayden Okunbor and Cam Scott weren’t enough for Hull who improved after the restart, but realistically were out of the game by half-time, eventually going down 34-10.
Team News
Tony Smith made two changes to his matchday 17 that faced Huddersfield Giants in the Betfred Challenge Cup last weekend for the second Hull Derby of the season.
Coming into Smith’s squad were Jack Ashworth and Franklin Pele, both of whom returned from suspension, with Ashworth starting in the front row and Pele on the interchange bench.
They took the places of Liam Tindall and Nick Staveley, the latter picking up a knock in training on Thursday.
Jayden Okunbor and Danny Houghton returned to the starting 13 after starting last week’s game on the bench.
The Robins made just one change to their 17 from last week’s Challenge Cup round, with Mikey Lewis returning from concussion to replace Oliver Gildart who missed out himself with concussion.
That meant that Tom Opacic started at left centre, with Black & White Academy graduate Jez Litten returning to hooker to make way for Lewis.
The Match
After an evening open 10 minutes, it was the Robins who broke the deadlock, with two quickfire tries.
Jez Litten darted out of dummy half to win Rovers a quick play the ball, and Tyrone May split the markers with a dummy, passed to the supporting Mikey Lewis who in turn passed to Niall Evalds to race away from Lewis Martin to score.
After conceding a penalty from the kick-off set, The Robins were over again before Hull had touched the ball as Joe Burgess took Evalds pass to get over in the corner.
Before the 20 minute mark the Robins had scored again, Evalds again the orchestrator, making a break when returning a kick and passing to Lewis who evaded three would be tacklers from Hull to score.
10 minutes later, Rovers scored again, Peta Hiku bursting through a huge hole in Hull’s defence and passing to James Batchelor to score – Jez Litten’s inaccuracy with the tee keeping the scoreline more respectable.
Before half-time, the hosts had another two – Hiku first turning scorer from Burgess’ pass, before Burgess helped himself to his second of the afternoon, with Litten converting both.
Half Time: Hull KR 28 – 0 Hull FC
Hull were first on the board in the second half, Jayden Okunbor charging down a kick from Mikey Lewis, collecting the loose ball and running 40 meters to score. Darnell McIntosh’s conversion adding another two to the board for the Black & Whites.
A penalty for Hull from the kick-off set moved them into Rovers territory, and on the last Jack Charles, who was lively in his half hour appearance off the bench, threw a long pass to Cam Scott who had the power to score.
It took Rovers half an hour of the second half, but they got the scoreboard moving again through Kelepi Tanginoa who isolated Charles one on one and was too big and strong for the 18 year old to score.
Full Time: Hull KR 34 – 10 Hull FC
The Scorers:
Hull KR Tries: Niall Evalds (14), Joe Burgess (17, 39), Mikey Lewis (20), James Batchelor (30), Peta Hiku (36), Kelepi Tanginoa (70)
Hull KR Goals: Jez Litten (2/6), Mikey Lewis (1/1)
Hull FC Tries: Jayden Okunbor (50), Cam Scott (54)
Hull FC Goals: Darnell McIntosh (1/2)
Squads:
Hull KR: Niall Evalds, Joe Burgess, Peta Hiku, Tom Opacic, Ryan Hall, Tyrone May, Mikey Lewis, Sauaso Sue, Jez Litten, Jai Whitbread, Dean Hadley, James Batchelor, Elliot Minchella
Interchange: Matt Parcell, Sam Luckley, Matty Storton, Kelepi Tanginoa
Hull FC: Tex Hoy, Darnell McIntosh, Cam Scott, Liam Sutcliffe, Lewis Martin, Morgan Smith, Nu Brown, Herman Ese’ese, Danny Houghton, Jack Ashworth, Jayden Okunbor, Ligi Sao, Jordan Lane
Interchange: Franklin Pele, Jack Brown, Will Gardiner, Jack Charles
STORY SPONSOR
