The Black & Whites held on in a dramatic finale in their Round One clash with Castleford Tigers at the MKM Stadium on Saturday afternoon to kick off the Tony Smith era with a 32-30 victory.
Adam Swift and Darnell McIntosh scored braces in a rip-roaring first-half for the Airlie Birds, heading into the sheds with a twenty point lead at the break. But the Tigers fought back after the restart to get back within two points of the hosts
Hull’s win came in front of their biggest attendance at the MKM Stadium in almost six years, outside of derby matches.
Team News
Tony Smith gave debuts to Tex Hoy, Jake Clifford, Liam Sutcliffe and Brad Dwyer in his first game in charge, with Dwyer making his 250th career appearance.
The game came too soon though for Carlos Tuimavave, Andre Savelio and Ligi Sao, who missed out as they continue their recovery from injury.
Jake Trueman, Connor Wynne, Mitieli Vulikijapani, Jamie Shaul were also unavailable through injury.
Joe Cator made his first appearance on home soil since August 2021 having recovered from back-to-back Achilles injuries.
The Match
Hull opened the scoring through Darnell McIntosh in the opening minutes, collecting a looped pass from Tex Hoy in the corner to walk over the line. Clifford added the goal.
FC had a second just two minutes later; Brad Dwyer made a superb break from half-way, and fed the ball to Liam Sutcliffe to race away and touch down on debut. Clifford made it two with the boot.
Tony Smith;s men made it a hat-trick of quick-fire tries as McIntosh bagged his second on the 15 minutes mark – a pass to the right edge went to ground, but the winger picked up tp score with ease.
The Tigers hit back through as the half-way mark of the first-half passed to get themselves back in the game as Bureta Faraomo finished a simple move to touch down in the corner.
Hull regained control with ten minutes left in the half; a set play from a scrum in the Tigers half, Tex Hoy ran the ball to the left edge and sent a looping pass over to Adam Swift to score.
FC’s fifth try was identical to their fourth as Hoy and Swift linked up once again direct from a scrum in the Tigers half.
Half-Time: Hull FC 26-6 Castleford
Hull continued their barrage on the Tigers line in the second-half; into his seventeenth season as a Black & White, Danny Houghton finished off some off the cuff play.
The Black & Whites were caught napping with a quarter of the game to go as Kenny Edwards hit a gap in the FC line to power through.
It was back to back tries for the Tigers when Jake Mamo broke away down the left edge and sent a ball inside to Jacob Miller to finish off a quick move.
And the Tigers were back within eight points of Hull when Faraimo’s converted try, his second of the afternoon, saw him power over on the far edge unopposed.
Lee Radford’s men set up a grand stand finale when Jake Mamo danced his way over with five minutes to play.
But the Airlie Birds held on in a dramatic finale to kick off the Tony Smith era with a victory in front of their biggest non-derby attendance in almost six years, and their biggest opening home game attendance since 2005.
Full-Time: Hull FC 32-30 Castleford
Squads:
Hull FC: Tex Hoy, Adam Swift, Liam Sutcliffe, Cam Scott, Darnell McIntosh, Jake Clifford, Ben McNamara, Chris Satae, Brad Dwyer, Scott Taylor, Jordan Lane, Josh Griffin, Brad Fash
Interchange: Danny Houghton, Joe Lovodua, Joe Cator, Kane Evans
18th Man: Jack Brown
Castleford: Niall Evalds, Bureta Faraimo, Mahe Fonua, Jordan Turner, Jake Mamo, Gareth Widdop, Jacob Miller, Liam Watts, Paul McShane, Nathan Massey, Kenny Edwards, Alex Mellor, Joe Westerman
Interchange: George Lawler, George Griffin, Jack Broadbent, Suaia Matagi
18th Man: Adam Milner
Scorers:
Hull FC Tries: Darnell McIntosh (7, 14), Liam Sutcliffe (10), Adam Swift (28, 32), Houghton (46)
Hull FC Goals: Jake Clifford (4/6)
Castleford Tries: Bureta Faraimo (21, 68), Kenny Edwards (60), Jacob Miller (62), Jake Mamo (75)
Castleford Goals: Gareth Widdop (5/5)
Attendance, in association with Garbutts: 15,383
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