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Waterloo 17 Hull Ionians 12 - National 2 North    Photos

Hull Ionians played with pride and ambition at Waterloo where it was always going to be a difficult match as both teams have been seeking their first win. A strong gale down the pitch made playing rugby even more difficult and in the end the passing it errors it induced probably cost the match.
Hull Ionians had a well organised disciplined defence for the first time this season and had the gale at their backs for the first half. Hull Ionians used the wind well to gain good positions and with their forwards gaining the upper hand deservedly scored through the pack. In just 8 minutes a superb raking kick by James Greene lead to an attacking line-out, taken by Rich Hill and driven on for Danny Hague to score. 6 minutes later a well judged kick by James Ferguson led to pressure again and from another line-out catch and drive the team were convinced Danny Hague had driven over again, rolling out of the tackle to touch down with the try awarded by the Touch Judge, but ruled out by the referee ruling he had been held up. Ten minutes later attacking from a scrum, patience and good support play saw Rob Kench driven over to score, James Ferguson converting, with further tries missed through handling errors in the gale. Waterloo had their fair share of the ball but struggled to make ground, crunching tackles by Adi Longbone and Rich Wigham being particularly noticeable. To close the half Waterloo twice reached the 22 and two penalties by Liam McGovern put them back in the match while James Ferguson missed a long range kick in reply, just misjudging the wind.
The second half saw Hull Ionians defending well facing the wind with Waterloo never threatening a try, their deep kicks being well covered and cleared by Danny Smith and Oli Marns, with their frequent runs from deep never quite breaking the defence. Good attacking ball provided by the pack was also under used as passes went wild in the gale. However territorial positions inevitably led to penalties on 48 and 65 minutes, kicked by Liam McGovern, allowing Waterloo to level the scores. The closing minutes saw Hull Ionians producing wave attacks to threaten the line with James Greene, Danny Smith, Oli Marns and Tim Nixon all making strong runs and breaking the first tackles but not the desperate cover that Waterloo produced. With Hull Ionians camped in the 22 pushing for the win in the dying minutes a loose pass was kicked away and winger James Gee raced away for a 90 metre stolen try that saw Waterloo in the lead for the first time, much against the run of play. There was still five minutes injury time for Hull Ionians to pressure the line again, but the Waterloo rush defence and determination held out to the final whistle.