Last Saturday our side made the short journey to take on fourth-placed Sandal in a Yorkshire derby game and after a very hard game we posted an emphatic 31-3 win over the West Yorkshire side. Despite having an abundance of possession in the first half we turned round just 5-3 ahead, due to an outstanding defensive display from the home side. The second half was a different story as we went on to score 26 unanswered points and another four tries. Try-scorers were Tom Tunami (2), Mike Adlard (2) and Lee Birch, with Simon Humberstone (2) and Steve Johnson adding the conversions.
Elsewhere in the division Billingham beat Alnwick 30-8 as mentioned elsewhere; Blaydon had a comfortable 31-15 home win over Kendal; Harrogate had to pull out all the stops before beating vistors Lymm by 19-7 and Vale of Lune could not re-produce their previous week’s heroics when they lost 26-0 at Rossendale. Wilmslow entertained Ilkley and the Dalesmen posted a good 36-18 away win while a tense and close game at Wirral saw the home side beat Kirkby Lonsdale by 27-22.
All this means that the top three places are unchanged with Hull on 54 points, Billingham on 50 points and Blaydon move back into third position on 44 points. At the bottom of the table there is no change with Wilmslow having 8 points, Vale of Lune 12 and Kendal 13.
My top three games in today’s fixtures are obviously the one we will watch this afternoon, Ilkley v Harrogate where tenth play fifth in a North Yorkshire Derby and in the relegation zone where twelfth-placed Kendal host bottom club Wilmslow. All bottom three clubs are desperate for points and with Kendal most likely to climb the table they will probably shade it. I will stick my neck out and predict two home wins and one away win, but I am not saying who!!
HULL RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 