New Brighton Fail to get first win

Team Sheet:1. Mark Dorrington, 2. Phil Buckley, 3. Dan Stafford, 4. Paul Campbell, 5. Jez Lamb, 6. Jon Harris, 7. Andy Moore, 8. Kati Tuipulotu, 9. Alan Hesketh, 10. Steve Dean, 11. Alastair Child, 12. Chris Dale, 13. Sion Williams, 14. Ian Murray, 15. Jim Yarranton,

Substitutes: 16.Anthony Probert, 17. Steve Fox,18. Gareth Simpson.

On a lovely late summers’ day in the East Riding, New Brighton were hoping to record their first win of the season against a side with just 2 points from their 3 games to date. How ironic that the visiting side, who have been awaiting patiently for an influx of Tongan players to bolster their depleted squad, particularly in the front row, should be scuppered by the sheer quality of Hull’s newly acquired players from that pacific island. Although not the quickest of stand-offs, Vunupola showed why he is Tonga’s finest at no. 10, whilst inside centre Otoota would surely look equally comfortable in an international jersey. That Hull could leave a No. 8 called Tuipulotu on the bench was an ominous sign for New Brighton’s loyal supporters.

Hull started at a pace that could only have been matched by the New Brighton coach on the M62. After some desperate defence, including a fine try-saving tackle by Campbell, an illegal block on a Hull threequarter chasing Vunupola’s deft grubber kick, resulted in the referee awarding a penalty try. A simple conversion made it 7 – 0 after just 7 minutes. Just 3 minutes later, Pretorious scored in the corner and an excellent conversion by Guy Martinson extended Hull’s lead to 14 – 0.

At this point a serious looking knee ligament injury to Stafford, who was replaced by Probert at tight head, exacerbated New Brighton’s front row problems. Despite this, the set pieces were some of few bright spots for the Blues in this match. After the restart, Dean kicked a penalty from 35 yards to reduce the lead to 14 – 3. A lovely chip and gather over the defensive line by Dean should have been rewarded by a score but Yarranton just failed to hold onto a difficult pass with a two-man overlap waiting to pounce. With Buckley winning a rare heel against the head, a typical burst by New Brighton’s Tuipulotu eventually led to a turnover ball and a clean break by the outstanding Otoota only for Hull to knock on this time with the line at their mercy. The Hull backs were now looking dangerous every time they had the ball and another sweeping move from their own 22 was only dashed by a magnificent tackle by Murray.

After 25 minutes, Sion Williams was sin-binned for a high tackle, shortly after he had been stopped dead in his tracks by a thunderous Tongan tackle. Full back Martinson kicked the goal from 35 metres to increase Hull’s lead to 17 – 3. Another delicate old-fashioned grubber kick by Vunupola gave Tranmer an easy score wide out with the reliable Martinson this time failing with the conversion. After 4 minutes of injury time, Otoota gathered a loose kick ahead from the Blues and from 35 metres out, managed to beat half a dozen tacklers for a great individual try under the posts with an easy conversion to follow. Immediately after the restart, New Brighton were awarded a penalty and Dean reduced the lead to 29 – 6 with the last kick of the first half.

HALF TIME SCORE: Hull 29 – 6 New Brighton

Coach Steve Dorrington’s half time talk seemed to work wonders as a revitalised New Brighton had their best period of the match. A searing break by Dale should have earned their first try but for an untimely knock on. Another creative back movement did produce a try except that the final pass was judged to be forward by the referee. After just 5 minutes, Dean took a short penalty in Hull’s 22 and was stopped just short of the line but a typical Kati burst from 2 yards completed the job for the visiting side. The stand off’s conversion from near the touchline fell just under the crossbar. More relentless pressure led to two further penalties by Dean, so that after 65 minutes, New Brighton had reduced the lead to 29 – 17 and were beginning to think that the impossible could be achieved. Fox had replaced Moore with Lamb moving into the 2nd row and Simpson replaced the hapless Dale, who earlier in the match had suffered a deep cut with the bandage around his chin failing to stem the flow of blood.

In the final 15 minutes the tide turned with a vengeance and the rampant Hull back line scored four more tries without response. Hepi, who had started at scrumhalf but returned to the field after being yellow-carded at outside centre, scored the first. At the restart, Dean tried a short drop out and bravely fell to secure the ball for his team suffered a serious shoulder injury and left the field in some pain. New Brighton had used all three substitutes and finished the game a man short. The Hull threequarters took full advantage of this situation and ran in 3 further tries, mostly from near their own line. Despite a final riposte from the Blues with Hesketh going close and a last minute yellow card for the home no. 7, Hull ran out worthy winners.

FULL TIME SCORE: Hull 55 - 17 New Brighton

For the neutral, this was an entertaining but very physical match and was very costly to New Brighton’s already depleted squad. Strangely, for a high-scoring match, it was the number of near misses from both sides, usually from mishandling, that was the defining characteristic of the game. Hopefully, we can look forward to some Tongan visitors to the west side of the Pennines in the near future.

The Blues are at home next week against Kendal, who were also relegated from National 1 last season. Their fortunes this season are the opposite of ours, having won every game thus far. Come and support the Blues and help us win our first league points this season