Yorkshire side Hulll left Manchester and Sedgley Park bitterly disappointed as they rued a missed penalty attempt with the final kick of the game that what have sealed an away victory after a spirited comeback.
Thirteenth place Hull played a game well above what their league position suggests when they narrowly went down 32-30 away from home to fourth place Sedgley.
The fixture was a fiercely competitive affair with each side dominating different facets of the game – the home side edged the large majority of the scrummages, whilst the visiting team had the better of the close quarter exchanges.
National 2 North Results:
Birmingham 17 – 22 Macclesfield
Leicester Lions 45 – 21 Luctonians
Preston Grasshoppers 15 – 25 Harrogate
Sedgley Park 32 – 30 Hull
Caldy 66 – 15 Dudley Kingswinford
Chester 9 - 15 Darlington Mowden Park
Sheffield Tigers 28 – 10 Bromsgrove
Stourbridge 34 – 25 Otley
Hull got onto the scoreboard first, as is essential away from home, through the boot of Cameron – who had consistent day with the boot.
However, Sedgley were moving the ball well at every opportunity and a series of flowing handling phases ended with centre Wainwright going in for a try in the left hand corner after just seven minutes.
Although the resulting conversion was wide of the mark, the visitors penalty count began to mount up, allowing Collins to reconcile with the boot and slot two penalties at 15 and 20 minutes, respectively; establishing an 11 points to three advantage.
However, Hull came straight back at the home side with two penalties of their own: one, a successful long range effort from centre Hayes, which was quickly followed by one from closer in by Cameron to pull the visitors within two points.
Just before the break Hull’s spirits were lifted even further as the ball moved into the hands of centre Hayes after a scrum, who dummied on the half-way line and blasted his way past four defenders to score a magnificent try under the posts. The easy conversion was duly recorded, putting the visitors into the lead at 16-11.
Sedgley emerged from the break determined to make amends for their errors of letting Hull back into the game and the breakthrough came shortly after.
A great line by centre Wainwright saw him take a sublime pass from Collins, race under the posts from well outside the 22”. Collins added the simple conversion to flip the game on its head once again, putting Sedgley two points into the lead.
National 2 North Table:
Pos Pld Pts
1 Macclesfield 25 110
2 Stourbridge 25 107
3 Darlington M P 24 106
4 Sedgley Park 24 82
-----------------------------------------------------
12 Preston Grasshoppers 24 51
13 Hull 24 43
14 Sheffield Tigers 23 31
15 Bromsgrove 24 24
16 Dudley Kingswinford 25 6
The same duo fashioned a very similar try ten minutes later adding another seven points to their total and Hull were nine points adrift going into the last quarter.
As Hull and Sedgley started making substitutions it was Hull who seemed to gain some momentum which was emphasised when Hull's centre Hayes took the ball thirty yards out and twisted and barged his way over for a fine try some fifteen yards to the right of the posts which Cameron did well to convert into a tricky wind.
Sensing defeat was staring them in the face Sedgley raised their game for one last effort and having established themselves in the Hull half it was Collins yet again who released his other centre Riley to race through the Hull defences to score under the post. Collins' conversion saw his side into a thirty-two points to twenty-three advantage which must have seemed like a winning margin with only fifteen minutes to go.
However, it was then that the comeback came into full swing, as Hull, who had continuously broke tackles all day, pilled on the pressure as the home side tired. Deep within the Sedgley half a good amount of handling between both backs and forwards resulted in Hull’s Argyle crashing over the line for the score.
Another good conversion by Cameron from some fifteen yards to the left of the posts set up a frantic finale.
With the final whistle just minutes away, Sedgley’s desperate defending yielded a penalty to Hull in the 22 metre area, about 15 yards to the right of the posts.
Just two points behind, with the kick and the victory there for the taking, for once Cameron was off the mark, sending the kick wide; leaving Hull pondering what might have been as they returned home with just a bonus point to their name.
