Despite some excellent moments and a very good all-round display by back row man Laurence Cowen-Leak and off half Dean Hull were unable to overcome the Achilles heel of a lack of first phase possession. With ball in hand, they made chances but squiring enough ball was not easy.
Hull fielded a young side for this game against Birmingham and were soon under pressure as they knocked on Birmingam’s kick off. From the resulting scrum the visitors made the most of their possession and several phases later they saw their prop Priest plunge over for an unconverted try after four minutes.
Hull responded with a well struck penalty from off half Reece Dean after eight minutes. Birmingham were next to score when their scrum half ran behind three of his own players before good handling put centre Knox in for a try converted by off half Lewis after eleven minutes.
Just seven minutes later a penalty followed by a catch and drive saw Birmingham hooker Roach get the touch down for an unconverted try. Birmingham took full advantage of a yellow card, with another forward drive seeing Roach go over once again with Lewis adding the extras.
Yet another try went to the midlands side when their fullback Pointon beat a handful of defenders to score a great individual try which went unconverted to see Birminghham ahead 29 3 after thirty four minutes. Hull had never stopped trying and some good work by the pack resulted in back row man Cowen -Leak powering his way thirty yards for a fine try in the left hand corner converted well by off half Reece Dean.
The second period opened well for Hull and a catch and drive from a penalty award saw Cowen-Leak score the try and Reece convert once again to get Hull back into the game.
The remainder of the half saw Hull frustrated as they failed to keep possession and with Birmingham opting to keep the gap between the scores up to three scores the only other points went to Birmingham through their off half Lewis in the fifty first and sixty eighth minute to see them home 35-17.
HULL RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 