Despite a great individual performance by Hull’s number eight Paulos latu and their prop Loma Kivalu scoring a try on his one hundredth appearance for the club they were overrun by a side playing for their league status and who were at full strength against an injury hit Hull side who lost two players to injuries during the game .
The summery weather and a large perfect pitch were settings more akin to a seven a side tournament and the game was played in a similar spirit.
The home side kicked off and Hull showed little of the problems they were to encounter later as their stand out player , Paulos Latu caught the ball in his own twenty two metre area then smashed his way through three tackles and surged over the halfway line before passing the ball to back rower Noah Marshall who outpaced the defence before scoring in the corner after just thirty seconds. The home sides response was immediate with a catch and drive effort awarded to Durkan and converted by full back Stephens to see them ahead after just five minutes.
Hull were next to score when good handling saw centre Harry Dawkins force his over through two tacklers to put Hull back in the lead after just thirteen minutes .Four minutes later Rossendale scored through centre Inu for another converted try to lead 14-10 . Hull struck back with a well worked try in a passage of play covering sixty yards with Jamie Shaul racing over and touching down near the posts with full back James Farrar adding the conversion to see Hull leading 17-14 after just twenty three minutes. That was as good as it got for Hull as the home side then ran in four converted tries before half time to end the game as a contest and a half time score of 42-17.
With Hull losing off half Harry Gunn Mclean, winger Tom Lineham as well as having to leave two players on the field carrying leg injuries the gaps appeared in defence in the second half and Rossendale made full use of the space afforded them .
They ran in six more tries with five being converted through two to Ligthbown, Inu, Bedlow,Durcan and Gayle. Hull never stopped playing open rugby and late in the game they surged upfield and prop Loma Kivalu crashed over with James Farrar converting but it was just a consolation score as they lost by the large margin of 82-24.
HULL RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 