Hull’s scrum dominated throughout and laid the foundation for a victory to see Hull keep up their promotion push with a 20-13 win at Lymm.
Hull’s back row of Rupert Kay, Joe Stafford and Zak Poole were a constant thorn in Lymm’s side and Zak Poole just took the man of the match award as he scored a vital try in the first half.
Hull got the score ticking over with a third minute penalty but Lymm responded in kind through their full back Cormac Nolan after 17 minutes.
Despite dominating for long periods thereafter Hull could not break down a well-organised Lymm defence and it was Lymm who scored next.
A good drive to a few yards from Hull’s line saw Lymm scrum-half Andy Davies dummy his way past the Hull pack for a try under the posts converted by Nolan.
Hull were able to reassert their forward pressure and late in the first half number eight Joe Stafford came off the edge of a maul from a lineout to touch down near the posts. Off-half Steve Johnson kicking the conversion to level the scores 10-10 at half-time.
Lymm restored their lead with an early Nolan penalty but Hull were now completely dominating the scrums.
The pressure told as Hull moved the ball to their right just outside the Lymm ‘22’ and a finger tip pass by Mike Adlard saw Zak Poole in support yet again to score a great try. Johnson’s magnificent conversion easing Hull into a four-point lead after 59 minutes.
A late Johnson penalty gave Hull a seven-point lead but it took a last ditch tackle under Hull’s posts to deny Lymm a share of the spoils in a desperate last five minutes.
Hull’s pack took the honours and Hull look forward to the game at Wirral next week as they aim to keep their unbeaten run since losing to Preston just after Christmas going, and their promotion run on track.
By Richard Gore
HULL RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 