Last night, Hull overcame a slow start and the absence of key man Chris Satae to claim a huge win over Huddersfield. The result has left the Giants in desperate need of a win in the coming weeks to turn their season around.
Major Talking Points:
1. Winning ugly is a win nonetheless.
Hull FC secure their third consecutive victory as they reduce the gap between themselves and the top four. They trailed 10-0 at half-time but tries from Mahe Fonua, loanee Jack Logan and Connor Wynne helped the Black and Whites complete the comeback. It was not pretty for the majority of the match by either team in wet conditions and with countless players missing from both sides but Hull had enough grit and determination to win the “ugly” way, for the first time in front of their home fans in 16 months.
2. Worrying times for Huddersfield?
Yet another defeat for the Huddersfield Giants sees them slip into the bottom three. Relegation may not be a concern just yet but their chances of play-off rugby are sinking by the minute. True, they have a whole host of players injured and several more were lost to the England vs All-Stars match but Ian Watson’s side now have to cook up something special pretty quickly to salvage anything from a season that showed much promise.
3. Learning lessons
Who is this aimed at? Both clubs will have learnt many things on the night as errors were aplenty. But the game served as a subtle reminder for the powers that be that playing an international match directly clashing with Super League action is a bad idea. Not all eyes were on the England game, over 5,000 attended the Hull match, not to mention others on the Our League App. That and the fact it left many clubs short on personnel has made many question the decision to play the game this week. Surely, we won’t make the same decision again?
Player Ratings:
Hull FC
23. Connor Wynne – 7
2. Bureta Faraimo – 7
5. Mahe Fonua – 8
30. Jack Logan – 7
27. Mitieli Vulikijapani – 8
6. Josh Reynolds – 7
7. Marc Sneyd – 7
13. Ligi Sao – 8
14. Jordan Johnstone – 7
17. Brad Fash – 7
12. Manu Ma’u – 8
24. Cameron Scott – 6
15. Joe Cator – 7
Substitutes
19. Ben McNamara – 6
20. Jack Brown – 7
31. Aidan Burrell – 5
32. Marcus Walker – N/A
Huddersfield Giants
31. Olly Ashall-Bott – 7
24. Louis Senior – 6
21. Leroy Cudjoe – 6
27. Sam Wood – 6
5. Darnell McIntosh – 6
6. Lee Gaskell – 7
23. Olly Russell – 6
22. James Gavet – 7
1. Ashton Golding – 7
18. Jack Ashworth – 6
13. Josh Jones – 7
15. Joe Greenwood – 6
25. Owen Trout – 6
Substitutes
14. Matthew English – 6
19. James Cunningham – 6
20. Oliver Wilson – 6
26. Sam Hewitt – 6
