NURL 2nds – 28
Hull University 2nds – 12
By Edward Ainscoe
On a beautiful day for rugby league football, NURL ventured into the nation’s fattest city to face a determined and experienced Hull outfit. Depleted from the outset with several notable absentees, such as Belgian international Archambeaux, the Royals had spoken of playing with pride and limiting the oppositions chances. From the kick off it was clear they would do more than this.
Following a frantic opening period, Will Hanrahan’s fleet footedness saw him spot a gap only ten metres out from his own line and accelerate up the pitch to score a fine individual try, with the effort converted by the consistent Jono Bethwaite. The pace of the game began to wear down the thin NURL ranks, with tackling machine Murray James throwing his exuberant hair piece into the oppositions’ wobbling bodies. A period of Hull pressure paid dividends for the home side, with two unconverted tries exposing a little of the Newcastle team’s inexperience. Whilst some NURL heads were beginning to drop, trusty Treasurer Sam Jacques arrived on the scene, having answered a late call for NURL reinforcements, breaking all known records to deliver his precious cargo of players and Rockstar energy drink to the game. These reinforcements made an immediate impact, with Mikey Bryan barging his vast frame over several hapless Hull defenders to make the score 12-8 to Newcastle at half time.
The second period began in the same manner, with team manager Wearside Shylock Jack Webb’s frugal and economical team talk having steadied the NURL ship at half time. From the kick off, excellent approach work from Brad Budd and Jason Keyes gave room for Ainscoe and Bryan to break the Hull defensive line, with the dash to the line nearly exposing Ainscoe’s lack of pace, only for him to stutter over for another NURL try. However, Hull immediately took the ascendancy, pouring more pressure onto the Royal’s line like so much gravy on a portion of chips. Again, NURL ran out of juice on their goal line, and, despite heroic tackling from ex-Wetherby Bulldogs Under 8s player of the year Dan Acton, the East Yorkshire side snuck in for an unconverted try.
Just at the game could have swung back in Hull’s direction, early cramp victim Hanrahan again produced one of his now trademark dashes down the pitch, furiously stepping around potential defenders as though playing hopscotch. Having seen their plight, Hull introduced a number of ringers into the fray, but James O’Donovan at full back was more than a match for these tactics, swooping and pouncing on loose balls and producing strong crunching tackles. In the dying stages of the game, strong drives forward from impressive forwards Matt Hawes and Sam Eaton sucked in a tiring defence, giving Rob Seegreaves a gap the size of the Humber estuary to power through, deftly beating the full back and provoking a celebration of the likes not seen since the club’s latest delivery of Sloggi underwear and giving an impressive 28-12 win to the Newcastle outfit.
NURL’s attention is now turned to next week’s block busting games, with the second team taking the short trip to Durham in a mouth watering clash, and the first team entertaining Liverpool John Moores in a a fixture that could highly influence this year’s league winners.