Wirral Suffer a Comprehensive Defeat at Hull

During the long trip to Hull, it rained all the way; but the weather was fine when we eventually got there and found the pitch in excellent condition. The squad was the same as that for the Billingham game although a couple of players were carrying niggling injuries.
Hull played with the strong wind advantage in the first half but it was Wirral who were on the score board first; a quick free kick taken by JOE MURRAY, was passed on to DAN HARVEY who off-loaded to ROB PEARL who although tackled crossed the whitewash wide out, the conversion was missed. Play was contained in mid-field for the next 15 minutes as Hull pressed through one up rugby and turned down penalty opportunities as they went for line outs. RYAN HIGGINSON was injured in a tackle and was replaced by CHRIS HUGHES. On 21 minutes a quick free kick taken by Hull and good passing saw prop Michael Jobling cross close to the posts this was converted by Tomasi Tanumi. Within 3 minutes Hull had doubled their lead, from the kick off they kicked downfield and won the ball from the line out against the throw, Hull passed the ball down the line and fullback Lee Birch scored in the corner and the try was well converted, 14-5 (24 mins).
Wirral were at this stage losing ball when in possession when trying to play the ball out of their own half/20m area and this resulted in Hull’s third try when a penalty resulted in a 5m line out, Hull were held up over the line and from the scrum, James Kirk (winger) crossed out wide, the conversion was missed. JAMES REEVE and CHRIS TYSON came on for KEITH MAHON and PAUL LEWIS respectively. As Hull sought their bonus point try before half time, Wirral were defending and trying to keep the score down but were unable to do so as one of Hull’s new imports from Glasgow Warriors began to make an impact as he scored the Hull 4th try by forcing himself over from 5m out. The try was converted to leave the score 26-5 in favour of the home side at half-time.
Wirral at least at the benefit of the wind in the second half but even that died down during the game. JAMES ANNETTS was injured when a Hull forward dived on him injuring a thigh muscle/hamstring; he was replaced by KEITH MAHON which necessitated a change in the backs with ROB PEARL moving into the centres and CRAIG HARVEY to full back. With all these changes it was not surprising when Hull broke through the Wirral defence aided by weak tackling and Lee Birch scored his second try in the corner, not converted.31-5 (56 mins). MARK WILLIAMS was then injured with a bad cut to the eye lid, which necessitated another change in the backs with another forward playing there. In the meantime Wirral had a couple of half chances but it was not to be their day. Hull’s final try came from a breakaway in their own half with winger Ashley Smith scoring under the posts , There was still time for Wirral to miss a golden chance when a cross kick was fumbled with no Hull player in sight. Wirral were relieved to hear the final whistle, which ended with 4 injuries to the team.
With Rossendale winning they increase their lead over Wirral for 2nd place to 8 points and we ourselves are now only 2 points ahead of Hull but maintain 3rd place. The next match is against Waterloo on the 11th at home.