Adlard and Hihetah share 9 of Hull’s 11 tries in confortable Sandal win

Hull bounced back well following their narrow defeat at Harrogate last week to defeat Sandal but not before Sandal had given them a very tough time in the first period, turning round just 17-7 down, despite losing prop Ashley Norbury who was red-carded in the 32nd minute.
Hull took the lead in the fifth minute following some very good forward approach play which gained a scrum, then a penalty and another scrum resulting in winger Mike Adlard scoring near the right corner. The conversion was missed but Hull continued to dominate before Sandal had a good of possession as the game moved from end to end. In the 24th minute centre Steve Johnson broke out from near his own line to feed full-back Keane Naylor who took the ball to the half-way line before putting the supporting Adlard away for his second try beneath the posts which Simon Humberstone converted.
Sandal’s response was immediate and two minutes later as Sandal moved the ball to the right full-back Jack Townend sliced through from 30 yards, beating several defenders on the way, to score a fine individual try near to the posts leaving Luke Punton with an easy conversion.
In the 32nd minute Sandal prop Ashley Norbury was red-carded for foul play and in Hull’s next move winger Steve Hihetah made a powerful 70 yard run up the left wing to score an unconverted try in the corner to give Hull a 17-7 half-time advantage.
Hull came out a different side for the second period to score three converted tries between the 42nd and 47th minutes to effectively put the game out of Sandal’s reach. The first came as Hull were breaking to the right in their own quarter when a slick inside pass to the left from Humberstone to Hihetah saw the winger raced 80 yards straight up the middle to score beneath the posts. Hull took the restart and produced some swift handing to break up the left flank where Naylor scored 10 yards in from the left corner. The third came when Adlard took a pass on the half-way line to touch down beneath the posts for his hat-trick. Simon Humberstone converted all three and Hull led by 38-7.
To their great credit Sandal hit back with some good pressure of their own and in the 50th minute forward Nathan Newbound blasted over from close range for a try converted by Punton. The game now went to uncontested scrums following an injury to a Sandal prop.
In the 57th minute a cross-field move saw Adlard make ground before kicking ahead and regathering to score an unconverted try in the right corner and two minutes later good approach work saw him run in from 30 yards for a try converted by Humberstone. This made the score 50-14. Sandal then had centre Simon Frewin yellow-carded in the 60th minute and Hull’s scrum-half Harvey Harding followed suit six minutes later, both for technical offences.
Hull were not yet done and in the 69th minute Mike Adlard, who had moved to scrum-half, finished off another good move by racing in from 30 yards leaving Humberstone to add the extras. Two minutes later Naylor broke out of his own 22 to feed Lee Birch who in turn put Hihetah away on a barn-storming 60 yard run to score an unconverted try in the left corner to post his hat-trick.
In the 75th minute acting scrum-half Adlard broke from the back of a ruck to race 35 yards to score under the posts for his double hat-trick leaving Humberstone an easy conversion. The final try came in the 79th minute when hooker Mike Jobling crashed over from close range following some heavy Hull pressure. The conversion attempt hit the upright and bounced wide.
Steve Hihetah has now scored 29 tries this season while Mike Adlard has scored 24. Simon Humberstone has kicked 78 conversions and 9 penalties.
Norman Angell.