On a late summer Saturday afternoon that was made for running rugby Hull Ionians made a welcome return across from Humberside for the first time in a couple of seasons.
Following on from the first weekends league victory over Morley the Foresters had been in an upbeat mood during the week but this was soon to be removed by the sizable Ionians side.
The Foresters endeavored in the early exchanges but the visitors defence held firm and this combined with uncharacteristic handling errors meant that the newly installed scoreboard was untroubled.That was until a couple of penalties that were kicked to touch gained the Foresters territory and following a line out and a couple of phases the ball was fed to stand off Louis Verity who looked to be running up a blind alley but with a couple of sidesteps which wrong footed the covering defence he danced his way over the whitewash from 25yds. The extras were converted by Rory MacNab.
Stalemate existed for 10 minutes until some continued pressure from Ionians resulted in a try wide on the left which was well converted allowing the sides to take a breather at 7-7.
More nip and tuck midfield rugby took place in the second half with scoring opportunities at a minimum with the defensive efforts on top.
Rory MacNab missed a penalty attempt from 35 yards.
With 15 minutes to go a stray arm resulted in a yellow card to prop Sam Booker and Ionians tried in vain to add to their total with the numerical advantage.
This was not to be and it wasn’t until Ionians committed an infringement just inside their own half and skipper Tom Whyte asked MacNab to step up for a shot at the posts. Down hill with the breeze the ball dissected the posts to the welcome relief of the sizable home support. 10-7 to the Foresters who played out the final couple of minutes. It was nail biting stuff but the whole squad should be proud of the commitment and character shown out on the park.
Onwards to this weekends derby fixture against the foes from over the hill Harrogate.
Foresters: – 1. Tom Jackson, 2. Madison Hunting, 3. Sam Booker, 4. Joe Myers, 5. Simon Borrill, 6. Sam Smith, 7. Tom Whyte (c), 8. Joe Metcalfe, 9. Henry MacNab, 10. Louis Verity, 11. Bradley Viner, 12. Tom Mann, 13. Josh Prell, 14. Tom Doherty, 15. Rory MacNab.
Replacements: – 16. Tom Burtonwood, 17. Sam Dickinson, 18. Jamie Brooks, 19. Jack Pinder, 20. Adam Williamson.