Hull consolidated their position at the top of National 2 North by beating Blaydon 57-17 at Chants Ave. While the score might suggest a walk in the park, the contest was anything but, especially in the first half. Two tries in three minutes got the home side out of a sticky situation as Blaydon threatened to become the first team this season to beat the league leaders on home soil. Director of rugby Gary Pearce knew that once his side gained control of the game, they would get the win and stay top of the table.
“After conceding 10 penalties, we were camped in our 22 for much of the first half,” Pearce said.
“Everything we seemed to do went against the referee. He wasn’t happy with us. We just couldn’t get the ball in our hands.
“We might have got out of our half twice in 30 minutes or so and all credit to them. We defended really well and they scored just the one try when having all that pressure.
“Once we got control of the game, we ran them ragged in the second half and we were scoring at will at the end.
“But when we got the first score in the second half, that put us well in front and I felt if we could manage the game in terms of position, we wanted to see how good they were at coming out with the ball.
“If we were patient and we played in the right areas, I thought the points would come. And they did.”
Pearce decided to rest a few players carrying niggling injuries and the decision paid off as the forwards laid the foundation for the win while the backs used their speed and agility to rip through Blaydon’s defence.
“With the side we had out, we rested a few lads because they were carrying knocks and bruises, we wanted to give everyone an opportunity for Fylde this weekend,” Pearce said.
“We felt we still had a strong enough squad to beat Blaydon, and we did.
“I thought Reece Dean was absolutely outstanding. A class act.
“I thought Laurence worked ridiculously hard and how he doesn’t score tries, I’ll never know. He gets everywhere, but over the try line. He’s a handful. Cam Curry and Liam Regardsoe carried the ball well for us.
“We’re a very fit side and the players are very proud and we are not unbeaten at home for no reason.
“You can never get everything right in a game, and we are at the stage in the season where it’s been a long season and we do forget, the players play at this level for fun.”
HULL RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 