HULL RUFC

Hull came up against a Macclesfield side determined to increase their lead at the top of National League 2 North at the pivotal point of the season for the Cheshire club.

Two early tries for the home side set the tone of the game. Thomas Eaton scored from a close catch and drive before Jon Keep forced the ball over after a long drive from 30m in the first ten minutes. Ross Winney then scored a close penalty before Evan Stewart cut out a lineout after 25 mins and used the pack to push the ball to the line from 25m out.

Darren Wigg managed to revive Hull’s spirits after 30mins when he supported a 40m run up the right wing from James Cameron and collecting the inside pass to run in from ten metres although Cameron missed the difficult conversion.

Hull started well in the second half with a quick tempo but were hindered ten minutes in when Dan Cook was sin-binned for a technical foul. From there, Daniel Baines took full advantage from two close range scrums in the next five minutes and sauntered over the line through the holes in defence.

With just over half an hour to play Baines was yellow carded for Macclesfield after a dangerous tackle on captain Chris Murphy. This allowed Hull to kick into touch and the following lineout was switched from left to right where Wigg exploited the overlap to sprint through the large gap ten metres out before Cameron converted.

Macclesfield managed to respond instantly when Stewart scored his second try as Hull struggled to deal with a deep kick to within five metres of the line. Matt White collected the ball but with insufficient support the tide was turned back to the line for Stewart to finish off.

Rob Devonshire also managed a try for Hull that brought hope of a bonus point when a Hull scrum ten metres out was poorly defended and allowed a simple run for the number eight. However the last move of the game saw Chris Townsend score the Blue’s sixth try from a close range scrum before Winney added the conversion for a well deserved win.

Double scorer Darren Wigg spoke after the game: ‘We’ve had a few hard knocks this year but we’ve come together at the end and now we can push forward next year.’

‘The youth held their own today and the signs are good that we can push on in the future with them playing.’

‘The aim for us now is promotion and with that a little more aggression. We have to step up a level next year if we’re going to go up but at least we’ve stepped up this year so the signs are good.’