With Hull’s back row man Tom O’Donnell leading the charge and Hull’s off-half Simon Humberstone giving a masterclass in tactical kicking, Hull overcame a good Loughborough side to record a good 33-20 victory.
Also on the scoresheet was Lee Birch who scored a try on his 100th game for the club.
Also on the scoresheet was Lee Birch who scored a try on his 100th game for the club.
Hull got off to an indifferent start as Loughborough hit the ground running. With a helpful wind, the visitors were soon in the Hull ’22’. A yellow card awarded against Ali Thompson saw Hull down to 14 men. The home side were driven back to the try line after the attacking line out for Loughborough to be awarded the first try of the game to lead 5-0 after 10 minutes.
Hull then began to use their forwards to drive the students back and were producing some good possession.
When Hull won a scrum five yards out, full-back Tomasi Tanumi jinked his way over under the posts to record his 300th point for the club after 22 minutes. Hull’s off-half Humberstone added the conversion.
Hull were starting to gain the upper hand and they had other chances when Tommy Lee broke clean through from a Humberstone pass and also had a late first half try disallowed for a foot in touch. Hull took a slender two-point lead with them as the sides went in at half-time.
With the wind helping, Hull were looking to play the game in the visitors half in the second period. The home side were soon able to get to Loughborough’s line and after a good scrum Hull’s number eight Latu Makaafi plunged over for a try converted by Humberstone to see Hull leading 12-5.
Hull kept up the pressure and just 10 minutes later, good ball retention saw Hull split the visitors defence for winger Lee Birch to touch down on his milestone match for the club with Humberstone converting again.
Loughborough were by no means done and they always looked capable of scoring again and so it was with a couple of tries through full-back Fergus Guiry and winger Will Attfield got them right back in the game with 10 minutes left trailing just 21-15.
Hull bounced back and two exquisite kicks by Humberstone – firstly picking out Mike Adlard and then Keane Naylor saw the latter touch down in the right hand corner in the 70th minute giving Hull the bonus point.
Loughborough gained their bonus point as their centre Tom O’Leary-Blade went in to see the final score 33-20 to Hull.
HULL RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 