Wharfedale 24-34 Hull

Hull just about ran out worthy winners of this well fought contest even though the try tally was 4-apiece. Dale could have taken more advantage of early possession and territory but the visitors restricted them to just one try. Hull eventually got into the game and a purple patch before half-time saw them run in three tries.

The visitors had the first serious possession but after six phases they found themselves 20 metres worse off, because of strong Dale tackling, and forced to kick. A poor kick downfield was poorly dealt with by Dale and the visitors had a line-out in Dale territory. A handling error in midfield gave Dale the put in at the scrum. The bigger and heavier Hull scrum was sent backwards at a rate of knots and the Green Machine were awarded a penalty. Dale now had the upper hand and with Hull continuously giving penalties away they were soon camped on the Hull line.

Dale opened the scoring with a strong surge by Jake Armstrong which was converted by Ryan Hodgson. Good handling by Hull led to a try for Adam Brankley converted by Reece Dean. Dale lost even more impetus when the restart was kicked out on the full and Hull had a scrum on halfway. The scrum won, Hull went through 10 solid phases before another well-timed pass from Harrison Astley allowed Brankley another easy route to the line, Dean again added the extras. Forwards and Backs combined to take Hull into Dale’s 22, with Astley creating space for players to advance and with off-loads and support Harvey Harding crossed the whitewash for Hull’s third which was converted by Dean.

Mistakes by Hull allowed Dale to regather themselves and have some meaningful possession and territory. Good work by the Green Pack allowed Dale to hit back before half time with a converted try by Sam Dickinson to reduce the deficit to 7 points. Dale pressed again and more penalties were awarded against Hull and another fireside chat given to the Hull captain (the third in the half) but no present of a card issued! The first half finished with a bit of magic from two players. Astley, whose kicking from hand was excellent all afternoon, launched a ball from his own 22 that seemed to be heading for a 50-22. Hodgson just reached the ball before it went into touch and batted it back towards his own line, he then quickly ran back and collected the ball and did enough to retain possession until support got back to help him.

Astley influenced the start of the second half. Dale’s restart was taken in Hull’s 22 and the ball fed to Astley who sent the ball up to Dale’s 10 metre line. Hull then started the scoring in the second half with a Dean penalty, the penalty was awarded for a head on head contact which also resulted in a yellow card for Joe Fawcett. A minute later and Hull’s Number 3 was also yellow carded for repeated offsides.

The home side closed the gap on 55 minutes with an unconverted try by Tom Beresford. The restart was taken by Simon Borrill just short of the touchline. He was then barged into touch by two upright Hull players which the ref thought was absolutely fine. Dale soon recovered and showed off good forward technique with a catch and drive which went over 15-metres and led to Hull’s Adam Brankley being shown yellow.

Dale seemed to have the stuffing knocked out of them after a long stoppage which saw Jake Armstrong being stretchered from the field. Harry Dawkin stretched Hull’s lead with a converted try on 61 minutes and Dean put the game out of reach with a 48-metre penalty. Dale grabbed a well-deserved bonus point with an unconverted try by Josh Prell but could not manage to add to their score in the final seconds.

The two main differences to the contest were the accurate kicking from the tee of Reece Dean and the control of midfield and the kicking out of hand of Harrison Astley. There was a solid performance from the Dale pack who had the upper hand for most of the afternoon, highlighted by a near-perfect line-out.

Wharfedale: – Hodgson; Prell, Bullough, Darwin, Mounsey; Kaup-Samuels (Weston 72), Riddiough; Dickinson, Stockdale (Collinson 72), Armstrong (Meehan 65), Borrill, Hedgley (c), Pinder, Fawcett, Markey (Beresford 40).

Replacement not used: – Cox.

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