HULL FC 14 WARRINGTON WOLVES 16
ASH HOPE, MKM Stadium, Saturday

WARRINGTON sealed their sixth win on the bounce as they held on by a whisker to keep up the pressure on Super League’s top-two.

Sam Burgess’ side held a 10-point lead after Leon Hayes’ and Matty Ashton’s late first-half scores, but Tom Briscoe played a huge part in taking it down to the wire.

The retiring winger helped Ethan O’Neill over the line before nailing a historic final Hull try to set up a grandstand finish, but Warrington had other ideas as they held on for victory.

Straight out of the blocks would be a soft description for Hull’s opening hit-out, with Joe Batchelor’s shoulder landing high on Aaron Lindop. The pair’s subsequent yellow cards and HIA assessments reset for a twelve-man start after only 22 seconds.

However, Warrington were unable to capitalise on a downfield six-again, still in their first completed set, with the home side enduring a ponderous start.

Harvey Hill stepped hard on the gas, offering up a characteristic slamming tackle on Luke Thomas to hound down a Wolves attack, which landed him on report, before Herman Ese’ese’s rock-like defending claimed Sam Stone next, with the hulking prop’s running grapple aired as a caution on the screen.

Hull, on the back-foot, were thankful for Harvey Barron, who sliced George Williams’ stab over the in-goal before catching a deadly grubber from the Warrington skipper.

Williams instead added the game’s first points from the tee, after Hull’s growing foothold was slowed down by a penalty for a ball-steal, but Aidan Sezer soon squared up the scoreline with his own penalty goal following excessive holding down on a try-bound O’Neill.

Those points came either side of Matty Ashton’s inexplicable fumble, with the Warrington winger catching the ball out wide, springing swiftly on his boot and ricocheting out of play. 

That error proved to be the precursor for a spell of unforced handling mistakes for the visitors, but the costliest mistake of the half instead came from Logan Moy.

The diminutive full-back looked to have collected the ball, following a frantic ricochet off James Harrison which Arthur Romano allowed to bounce, only to fumble into Leon Hayes’ path for the simplest of scores.

Warrington’s hot left-edge sprung back seconds later, with a second successive try, Ashton making amends in sliding over off the back of Toby King’s inventive pass.

After a simple first conversion, the second proved a tougher ask for Williams, who could not increase his side’s ten-point advantage.

A chaotic start to the second-half saw Williams penalised for a rash opening tackle, with Joe Philbin then leaving for a HIA. 

Jake Arthur’s speculative prod for the line showed Hull’s intent, as did Barron’s attempt to catch the Australian’s next-set chip. But though Ashton’s scrambling intervention offered the latest win in the battle of the wingers, the game soon fell back into a familiar rhythm.

Just five minutes into the second half Ligi Sao was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Thomas which sparked an on-field bust-up with Williams.

Hull’s second successful Captain’s Challenge had calmed the same tensions which were re-sparked when Romano was taken out after Amir Bourouh’s kick through – with calls silenced by the decision of a no try.

That spurred the Wolves to go full throttle, with Josh Thewlis thrusting over to score on his side’s deadly left edge, Williams’ conversion hitting the post. 

From an unsuccessful Captain’s Challenge, James Bentley’s knock-on was deemed unassisted, as was Thewlis’ defensive grounding, with a surging Romano run forcing only a drop-out from Arthur’s jink-and-dink. 

Both sides were hit hard and would pay the price again, with Sao placed on report and Thomas hobbling off with injury.

Tensions flared further when appeals for a high tackle by Williams were waved away by referee Chris Kendall, but Hull were intent on forging their own luck.

Briscoe’s incisive run found Sezer, who then fed in O’Neill to put the home side back on the board.

And the veteran winger came up with more heroics in his final outing at the MKM Stadium, blistering through to force down a score met by a roaring reaction. 

With Sezer nailing both goals to take the score to 16-14, Hull had set up a nail-biter out of nowhere.

Eyes were locked on the ball as the clock ticked down, but chances passed the hosts by.

An unsuccessful captain’s challenge preceded Ese’ese’s dropped ball on his way to the line, whilst many would have put money on Lews Martin catching a wide loft from Sezer, but the unopposed winger could not snatch a winner as the visitors held on.

GAMESTAR: Veteran winger Tom Briscoe spearheaded Hull’s late comeback in a memorable final outing at the MKM Stadium.

GAMEBREAKER: Briscoe saw a game leaving Hull’s grasp, so he grabbed the bull by the horns twice in as many minutes, with a hand in both tries.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: A headband-bearing Briscoe ecstatic after his final home try for Hull.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Tom Briscoe (Hull FC)
2 pts Leon Hayes (Warrington Wolves)
1 pt Matty Ashton (Warrington Wolves)

MATCHFACTS

HULL FC
24 Logan Moy
2 Harvey Barron
3 Davy Litten
19 Tom Briscoe
5 Lewis Martin
6 Jake Arthur
7 Aidan Sezer
8 Herman Ese‘ese
9 Amir Bourouh
10 Harvey Hill
11 Joe Batchelor
39 Ethan O’Neill
15 James Bell
Subs (all used)
16 Sam Lisone
18 Ligi Sao
21 Arthur Romano
32 Lloyd Kemp
18th man (not used)
22 Connor Bailey
Also in 21-man squad
25 Matty Laidlaw
26 Hugo Salabio
29 Will Hutchinson

Tries: O’Neill (67), Briscoe (68)
Goals: Sezer 3/3
Sin-bin: Batchelor (1) – high tackle, Sao (45) – dangerous tackle

WOLVES
2 Josh Thewlis
4 Albert Hopoate
23 Arron Lindop
3 Toby King
5 Matty Ashton
6 George Williams
19 Leon Hayes
16 Liam Byrne
9 Danny Walker
10 James Harrison
20 James Bentley
12 Sam Stone
13 Ben Currie
Subs (all used)
14 Sam Powell
21 Luke Thomas
22 Joe Philbin
25 Max Wood
18th man (used)
17 Jordan Crowther
Also in 21-man squad
11 Adam Holroyd
18 Ewan Irwin
35 Lachlan Webster

Tries: Hayes (36), Ashton (37), Josh Thewlis (50)
Goals: Williams 2/4

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-2, 2-2, 2-8, 2-12; 2-16, 8-16, 14-16

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Hull FC: Tom Briscoe; Wolves: Leon Hayes

Penalty count: 3-3
Half-time: 2-12
Referee: Chris Kendall
Attendance: 12,255