It was a game of two halves for Hull FC at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, as an outstanding first half was enough to see the Black & Whites to victory against Warrington Wolves, who mounted a comeback in the second.
Hull second all of their tries in the opening 40, with braces for Tom Briscoe & Davy Litten added to by Herman Ese’ese scoring for the sixth match in succession as well as a Will Pryce penalty goal as the hooter sounded, and they were enough to see Hull home for a seventh away win in a row.
Team News:
John Cartwright made just one change to the Matchday 17 that faced Hull KR last weekend, with Cade Cust returning having completed his head injury protocols to start at stand off, as Jordan Lane dropped out of the squad with a broken arm.
However, Cartwright was forced into a reshuffle to accommodate the injured Lane, with Zak Hardaker taking his spot in the back row, and Jordan Rapana filling in at centre and Will Pryce moving to full back for his second appearance since signing from Newcastle Knights.
Brad Fash (calf), Harvey Barron (hamstring), Ligi Sao (knee), Jed Cartwright (hamstring), Oliver Holmes (knee), Will Gardiner (head), Liam Watts (calf) all remain sidelined for the Black & Whites.
Sam Burgess also made just one change from his matchday 17 that progressed to the Challenge Cup Semi-Final last weekend, with Josh Thewlis returning from injury.
He look the place of Aaron Lindop, who dropped out with a broken jaw, as Paul Vaughan started, despite suffering a compound fracture of the finger in last week’s match.
The Match
The game started at a frantic pace on a chilly evening in Cheshire, with both sides creating half chances in the opening exchanges.
It was Hull that made the first opportunity, as Cade Cust created some space on Hull’s right, but Jordan Rapana’s pass to Tom Briscoe to set the winger away was forward.
It was then Warrington’s turn to have an opportunity denied for a forward pass, though the chance for the hosts was much more clear cut.
George Williams commanded the ball on the short side on the last tackle, threw a wide pass to Ben Currie but his catch and pass to Matty Ashton was comfortably forward and the try was ruled out.
That then sparked the Black & Whites into life, with a scintillating spell of three tries in less than 10 minutes.
The first came after a horrible high kick from Aidan Sezer was spilled by Matty Ashton 15 meters from his own line. From the scrum Will Pryce switched left to right and back left, leaving the Wolves short on the right, and good centre play from Jordan Rapana saw Tom Briscoe over in the corner unmarked.
Hull went back-to-back, scoring from the resulting kick off set. A high tackle from Marc Sneyd on Zak Hardaker set Hull deep into Wolves territory, which they took full advantage of. Briscoe again went close in the corner, but Cade Cust’s kick on the next play was allowed to bounce in goal, and Davy Litten showed the desire to get to the loose ball and touch down in goal.
The third of the trio saw Briscoe grab his second of the match.
Hull were camped on the Wolves line, and again had the quality to make that pay. After continually using their right side to attack, Briscoe was over in the corner again after more good centreplay from Rapana.
As the halfhour mark came, Hull were over again. Again, camped on the Warrington line, Hull twice used Herman Ese’ese as a decoy, and the third time the Kiwi was too big and too strong to force his way over to make it six in a row.
With five remaining in the half Warrington had their first spell of possession in Hull territory, and came away with points.
First awarded a penalty for a tip tackle, then again for a high tackle from Jordan Rapana, the Wolves threw the ball touchline to touchline and George Williams exploited a gap in the Black & Whites defence to score.
With the final play of the half Hull were over again to round off their best half of the season.
Again a Sezer kick caused terror at the back for the Wolves, this time Josh Thewlis spilling with 90 seconds on the clock.
Yusuf Aydin was held up over the line, but with the final play of the half Davy Litten grubber kicked for himself and touched down with an extravagant swandive, Pryce’s conversion completing the scoring for an outstanding first half performance.
Half Time: Warrington Wolves 4 – 26 Hull FC
After a near perfect first half, Hull made a poor start to the second.
George Williams went over within the first couple of minutes for the Wolves, but the ball was knocked on by the hosts before Tom Briscoe dropped Marc Sneyd’s kick.
From the resulting set, Davy Litten came up with an error, which saw an unsuccessful Captain’s Challenge by the Black & Whites.
Shortly later, Jack Ashworth was sent to the sin bin for a late tackle on Jordan Crowther in centre field, but good defending from Hull’s right edge kept out Ben Currie.
However, it wouldn’t be long before Warrington took advantage of their extra man, George Williams with the pace to exploit the space and give Josh Thewlis space to score.
Warrington continued to build pressure, plenty of it self inflicted from Hull, who were unable to clear their own half.
Marc Sneyd looked to have made that pressure count, with a big right foot step jinking through the Hull line, but brave defence from Will Pryce stopped him just short of the line.
A huge hit from Liam Knight, who was excellent, on Jordan Crowther regained possession for Hull, and equally importantly allowed a lengthy breather as the Wolves challenged the call.
However, that breather let to a further error, as Jordan Rapana coughed up possession deep in Hull territory.
All of that time defending their line eventually took it’s toll on the Airlie Birds, as Matty Ashton flew over in the corner, again created by Williams’ wide pass.
Marc Sneyd was off target for the third time with the kick, keeping Hull’s lead at 14 points.
Will Pryce made a huge break fielding a kick, brought down just 20 meters short of the line, but Hull came up with another error with their best chance of the second half.
From there, the hosts made ground, with a break from Paul Vaughan getting them close to the line before he was brought down by Pryce.
On the last, Sneyd’s wide kick was batted back by Ben Currie, and Matty Ashton stepped inside for his second of the game.
That set up a nervy finale as Hull led by 10, but despite further Warrington pressure, they scrambled their line with desperation to hold on for victory, before Will Pryce kicked a penalty goal to round the game off.
Full Time: Warrington Wolves 16 – 28 Hull FC
Squads & Scorers
Wolves: Matty Dufty, Josh Thewlis, Ben Currie, Rodrick Tai, Matty Ashton, George Williams, Marc Sneyd, Zane Musgrove, Danny Walker, Paul Vaughan, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Adam Holroyd, James Harrison
Wolves Interchanges: Joe Philbin, Jordan Crowther, Luke Yates, Sam Powell
Wolves Tries: George Williams (36), Josh Thewlis (49), Matty Ashton (61, 69)
Wolves Goals: Marc Sneyd (0/4)
Hull: Will Pryce, Tom Briscoe, Jordan Rapana, Davy Litten, Lewis Martin, Cade Cust, Aidan Sezer, Herman Ese’ese, Amir Bourouh, Liam Knight, Ed Chamberlain, Zak Hardaker, John Asiata
Hull Interchanges: Jack Ashworth, Logan Moy, Sam Eseh, Yusuf Aydin
Hull Tries: Tom Briscoe (12, 21), Davy Litten (16, 40), Herman Ese’ese (31)
STORY SPONSOR
