One interested spectator at Chants Ave to witness Hull’s 27-26 loss to Esher, was none other than John Inverdale. Inverdale is chairman of National League Rugby and vice President of Esher, but he was in attendance as a rugby fan first and foremost. As someone who has presented many important rugby games over the years on TV, he appreciated the efforts on display between two teams at the wrong end of the National 1 table. A penalty in the 77th minute eventually got Esher over the line as they continue their fight to stay in the third tier of English rugby, and Inverdale was relieved after 80 minutes of ‘agonising’ action.
“I thought it was a fantastic game of rugby, if you were a neutral,” Inverdale said.
“If you were on either side, and had a vested interest, it was agonising and almost unbearable, the way the game kept going one way, then the other.
“It really could have gone either way.
“I think the was actually won by the ball being ripped out of a Hull player’s hands three yards from the line, about 10 minutes.
“If that had gone over, and the margin was eight, then I think that was probably the game.
“I thought the Hull outside half was absolutely outstanding. What a really, really good player and a good prospect he is.
“We snuck it at the end. Were we lucky? You dog it out and you get lucky sometimes, when you’ve got unlucky on other occasions.
“It was a good advert for National 1 rugby. It was really competitive, really hard fought.
“Conditions weren’t great, so the error count was much higher than you would like on both sides.
“I can see how Hull have lost so many games, because you can get into a mentality of being not quite sure how to win a game.
“But actually, if you look at the game analytically, there are some really good players in the team.
“There are times when you can get very despondant, when there’s a losing run like that.
“But when you take a step back from it, you can say, he’s a good player, he’s a good player, he’s a good player etc.
“This is not a bad side, and I can easily see how you’ve run Sale and Rams so close here.”
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