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Photos: Vivan Jayant
A rejuvenated Hull 1st XV put in a powerful second half display to overturn York’s half-time lead and come away with an 18-12 victory that will give them confidence for when the sides clash again at Varsity this Sunday.
The home side will be left to rue missed opportunities in the first half, as Hull turned their game around in the second and showed the importance of being clinical and taking their chances.
Tries from Will Sharp and Adam Gaskill saw York go in 12-3 up at the halfway stage, but Hull’s second half performance proved too much for the home side, who slumped to a disappointing defeat.
York manoeuvred their way through the opening period with relative comfort- they enjoyed the vast majority of the territory whilst Hull appeared to have very little to offer going forward.
They thought they had the lead when Gabriel Adebiyi went over in the corner after around 15 minutes, following a clever blind-side run from scrum-half Will Ward, but he was controversially adjudged to have been forced into touch and the try was disallowed.
They then wasted another golden opportunity eight minutes later, as an interception from Gregor Morris turned Hull’s first spell of real pressure into a quick-fire York counter.
The hooker read a pass expertly to steal in ahead of its intended recipient and sprinted most of the length of the pitch, only to be caught inside the 22. He offloaded to the supporting Will Sharp, who was thwarted by some desperate Hull defending, before the ball was spread wide to Will Peters. A try looked inevitable, as Peters had Adebiyi outside him in support, but his pass was poor and the York winger couldn’t collect it, leaving Hull to somehow recover and escape unharmed.
York continued to put pressure on the Hull defence however, and before long they had their first try. They attacked with patience, and after several phases of play, they saw an opportunity on the blind-side. Will Sharp used his pace to skin the opposition defence and he ran in to score, making it 5-0.
Hull’s full-back converted a penalty after 33 minutes to bring it back to 5-3, but York hit straight back and increased their lead before the half-time whistle.
Peters kicked a penalty deep into the Hull 22, finding touch, and a powerful drive from the resulting line-out saw Gaskill touch down and make it 12-3 at the break.
York looked comfortable and were good value for their lead, but Hull came out in the second period with a different, more determined approach, which appeared to daze the home side.
A drive from their forwards similar to that which saw Gaskill score in the first half gave the away side their first try and took the score to 12-8, and from here they smelled blood, and continued to trouble the York defence.
Their impotency of the first half was now a distant memory, with each Hull attack looking dangerous, whilst York were struggling to regain a hold on the game.
The pressure was turned into another three points when their full-back kicked another penalty from under the posts, and suddenly, York’s lead had diminished to a single point.
This realisation stirred them back into action and they battled back into the game; their attempts to score, however, were thwarted by injury. Campbell Paton had already taken a trip to A&E when captain James Faktor dislocated his shoulder and was forced off.
And despite York’s slight resurgence, Hull completed the turnaround by driving over once more. A good conversion from out wide saw them take an 18-12 lead with not long to go.
York attacked with urgency and desperation, but couldn’t find the all important try before running out of time, leaving them condemned to a disappointing defeat.
James Faktor spoke after the game, saying; “We always come out hard in the first half, we were up ahead and were playing well. They didn’t offer too much in attack to be honest, and then second half, we said we had to come out in the first ten minutes and hit them hard but we came out soft and they used the wind well. They’re big boys and they decided to really come out hard and we couldn’t quite live with their physicality this time round. We’ve let this game go through silly tactics, it’s just disappointing to be honest.”