New Brighton Disappoint at Hull

Team Sheet: 1. Damian Penisini, 2. Phil Buckley, 3. Anthony Probert, 4. Jez lamb, 5. Jay Stirrett, 6. Chris Naylor, 7. Jon Sewell, 8. Kati Tui'pulotu, 9. Alan Hesketh, 10. Steve Dean, 11. Alastair Child, 12. Richard Halpin, 13. Ian Murray, 14. Sean Ellis, 15. Juan Schoeman
16. Dan Searle, 17. Andy Donaldson, 18. Ben Lazenby, 19. Jim Yarranton

A win at Brantingham Park would have been a small step towards safety and an easing of the threat of relegation for the Blues as all five teams ahead of them in the league lost to higher placed opposition. However, in what was not one of their best performances, New Brighton went down, five tries, four conversions and a penalty goal to a penalty try, one conversion and two penalty goals.

In contrast to the first half last week against Nuneaton the Blues were hesitant and uncertain, both with the ball in hand and in defence. Apart from a period each side of half time, when New Brighton claimed all three of their scores, Hull were well on top. They played with speed and an easy confidence, persistently wrong footing the Blues’ defence and making even normally good aggressive tacklers look inept. In defence they had the predictable attacking moves well covered and lack of support by New Brighton for ball carriers led to turnovers or penalties given for desperate attempts to recover the ball illegally from impossible situations in the tackle area. It was not a good match for new signing Juan Schoeman who would have found it difficult to find a place in such a disjointed scenario.

New Brighton kicked off and managed to establish a position in the Hull half, but a free kick got the home side moving and they swept through the New Brighton defence to put scrum half James Greene over on four minutes. Glenn Boyd had no difficulty adding the extras.

Trailing by seven points New Brighton were struggling even at this early stage. Referee, Mr R. Davies, awarded penalty after penalty for careless infringements. A lineout and driving maul in the corner was held well by the New Brighton forwards who were awarded a scrum. The ball was won by the forwards but a defender was caught in possession, ball turned over, and No 8 Derek Eves was over for the first of his three tries. An easy conversion put Hull Ionians up by 14 points after fourteen minutes. The Blues were continually under pressure and on twenty nine minutes the predatory Eves was over again after a clearance kick had been charged down.

New Brighton were working hard, the pack matched the opposition in the set piece scrum and in the lineout where Jay Stirrett and Jon Sewell were particularly effective. They were not muscled out of the game in the mauls either but in the loose, though individuals tried hard and none more so than Kati Tui'pulotu, the efforts died, generally, through lack of any effective support.

New Brighton’s purple patch started in the final minutes of the first half. The Blues had made one of their forays into the opponents half. Alan Hesketh had put the defence under pressure by following up a lucky fly hack and Sean Ellis had put in a good run on the right wing. Steve Dean stuck a penalty kick into the corner and the Blues forwards dug in for a drive for the line. Though there was no immediate result, the pressure was maintained and as the game moved into first half injury time, the referee spotted a serious infringement and awarded New Brighton a penalty try. Steve Dean put the conversion over and having pulled back seven points there was hope for a revival in the New Brighton camp.

Half Time Score: Hull Ionians 21 - 7 New Brighton

New Brighton’s fortunes continued on the restart. Steve Dean was putting in some fine line kicks for position and only five minutes into the half the Blues put enough pressure on the defence to force a couple of kickable penalties which Steve Dean to converted and brought the score to 21 – 13.

Hull Ionians hit back. Kati was penalised under the posts and was in the sin bin when Derek Eves scored again from the ensuing short penalty. A penalty goal by Glenn Boyd from an easy position some 22 metres out brought the score up to 31 – 13 for Hull Ionians on fifty minutes and the game, as a contest, was over. With the game already won and full five league points, including the bonus, in the bag for Hull Ionians the big lock Mike Watson, for his personal satisfaction, finished off a move to increase the lead to 36 – 13 with an unconverted try just short of the hour.

Nothing in the final quarter came close to altering the result. Hull Ionians were justifiably happy with their days work and New Brighton had too little in the tank to overturn the result.

Full Time Score: Hull Ionians 36 - 13 New Brighton

Next week at home v DARLINGTON K.O. 3.00PM