In a game that was always going to be close, Rotherham just eased past Hull in the last few minutes of a game that the visitors had led from the 25th minute until the 70th minute.
Rotherham kicked off with the slight.wind and slope advantage, but struggled to find room against Hull’s well organised defence. A penalty goal after 11 minutes by Lloyd Hayes saw the home side take a 3-0 lead, but Hull were putting pressure on the home side in the scrums and it was Hull who scored next.
A penalty award saw Simon Humberstone’s accurate kick to the right hand touchline give Hull the perfect position for a catch and drive lineout. The execution was well judged with prop Loma Kivalu getting the touchdown for an unconverted try.
Both sides then had breaks that were dangerous but defences held sway leaving the half-time score 5-3 in Hull’s favour. Hull had brought props Charlie Beech and Ben Botham on late in the first half and for the second period while scrum half Harvey Harding came on for Sam Crane.
Hull were soon on the attack and when Rotherham kicked straight out from a drop out under their posts and the visiting team made full use of the ensuing lineout five yards out for Beech to barge over for a try converted by Humberstone to see Hull lead 12-3 ahead after 50 minutes.
Humberstone followed this with a penalty after 59 minutes to see Hull extend their advantage to 15-3. However, Rotherham were starting to drive the ball through their pack and and when they got a chance to catch and drive themselves, they camped in the Hull’s ’22’ with number eight Callum Bustin scoring near the posts with Hayes adding the conversion after 67 minutes.
Four minutes later, another prolonged maul saw Rotherham hooker Harry Newborn go over with Hayes adding a conversion to see his side leading 17-15. Hayes made sure Rotherham won with a penalty in the last minute to leave Hull with a bonus point and very much in the hunt for a top-four spot.
Richard Gore
HULL RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 