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Preston Grasshoppers 30 Hull Ionians 29 - National 2 North Photos
Hull
Ionians produced an awesome performance at Preston, deservedly taking the lead
on the hour, but then had victory stolen from them in the final minutes.
They did
well to contain the home team in the opening quarter, take a 14-7 lead at the
break then after going 19-17 down take a 29-17 lead on the hour.
Then lack
of concentration and poor decision making conceded 11 points and the match in
the final quarter but at least Hull Ionians gained two bonus points, one for
four tries and one for a narrow defeat, a good haul from a tough away match.
Some excellent team work surprised the home team who expected to win easily with
Adam Thomas awarded man of the match with some superb individual and creative
team work.
Hull
Ionians produced good early pressure with superb tactical kicking by Joe Wright
and Stephen Slingsby but early season errors let Hopper’s off the hook to
counter attack. After countering the early kicks ‘Hoppers applied all the early
pressure and helped by a yellow card in just 7 minutes took the lead through a
try by Dominic Moon converted by Mark Edwards, but two more overlaps were cut
out by a hard working defence. Hull Ionians continued their high work rate and
stolen ball after a superb tackle from Adam Thomas saw Danny Smith chip ahead
then kick on again for a superb solo try. As Hoppers conceded another penalty
under pressure in the scrum, student Joe Wright’s penalty kick came back off the
posts and good driving team work saw Chris Starling power over, Joe Wright
adding both conversions to lead 14-7 at the break.
Hoppers
were fired up after the break and scored twice in ten minutes through Moon
powering over again from close range then missed tackles allowed centre Tom
Hughes in, Edwards converting to lead 19-17. A yellow card for Moon for over the
top again then saw Hull Ionians strike twice. The resulting penalty saw an
attacking line-out, Rich Hill setting up a break by Adam Thomas completed by a
try for Danny Hague. Then a scrum from 40 metres out saw Danny Hague making
ground
to send Adam Thomas over, Wright converting and the game should have been
won. Then the final 10 minutes saw inexperience and poor decision making allow
Hoppers replacement off half Alex Roebuck build off a resurgent team to claim a
penalty, then a try, then an injury time penalty to steal the match.