Recap
Hunslet Hawks came out winners in the first round of the Kingstone Press Super 8s against London Skolars at the South Leeds Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Hunslet sped into a 10-0 lead through two Stuart Sanderson tries early on only for London to score two of their own, making it level. The relatively low intensity first half ended with two well taken tries from Hunslet in the last ten minutes – making the score 22-10 in favour of the Hawks at half time.
The second half was quite similar to the first, errors blighting moments of great play. Hunslet scored just one try and a penalty kick in the second half, but the points were crucial, the South Leeds side winning by just 4 points in the end, the match ending 30-26 despite a late attempt at a comeback by the Skolars.
The first chance of the game went to the visitors and although they didn’t convert they set out their clear intent for the game. However, when Hunslet were rightly awarded three penalties to put them into a good position, great play by Danny Ansell ended with a looping offload to debutant Stuart Sanderson to put Hunslet in front. It was unconverted making the score 4-0 on the 9th minute.
London’s slack errors meant the penalty count swayed heavily in favour of the Hawks and it was not long before a good position meant Danny Ansell could produce an exquisite cross field kick for Sanderson to collect and score out wide. It was scored in 13th minute and was excellently converted by Simon Brown to put Hunslet 10 points in the lead.
Skolars hit back with a converted try by Jy-Mel Coleman at the end of the first quarter to make it 10-6. London had another chance not long after but it was safely diffused by Hunslet. However, the next time London Skolars came knocking, Lameck Juma scored to make it level at 10 apiece.
In the last ten minutes of the first half Hunslet scored two good tries to take them into the break with a 12 point lead. The first came when a penalty took Hunslet near the line – Mufaro Muvududu managing to get over the whitewash, 4 points being made into 6 by Simon Brown. A great offload soon after saw George Flanagan racing towards the try line only to be eventually halted by Lameck Juma. But the Skolars centre was only delaying the inevitable, fast hands giving Jake Normington the ball to make his way through staggered defence and score to the left of the posts. It was yet again converted by great goal kicker Simon Brown to take proceedings to 22-10 to the Hawks.
And that was how it ended, the first period resulting in a score line 12 points in favour of Hunslet.
The second half started with neither side dominating, both teams failing to convert chances. The deadlock was broken about 10 minutes in when prop forward Dave Williams capitalising when Jimmy Watson fumbled a high kick. That narrowed the margin to six points. However, just a few minutes later Watson made up for his earlier error slicing through the Londoners defense to score meaning that Hunslet’s lead was restored to its former state, the score standing at 28-16.
Not long later, a penalty to the Hawks to the left of the uprights on the London Skolars line gave Hunslet the chance to go 14 points in front. The chance was trustily converted by Simon Brown to make it 30-16 to Hunslet, and with little more than 15 minutes left it looked like the Hawks had it in the bag.
A late scare was yet to follow however, London scoring two late tries to make the final score a bit too close for comfort, Hunslet emerging 30-26 winners in their opening Super 8s match.
After the game Hunslet Hawks Head Coach Matt Bramald expressed his concern that his team had built up a good lead only to yet again let the opposition back into the game. He was delighted at how smoothly Stewart Sanderson settled into the team describing his second try as “sensational”.
Reporters Man of the Match: Stuart Sanderson, a great debut scoring two excellent tries.
Hunslet RLFC Line up
1. Jimmy Watson
2. Stewart Sanderson
Sponsored by: Available Call 0113 2712730
3. Kyran Johnson
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4. Mufaro Mvududu
5. Richie Barnett
Sponsored by: Iris Crummack from the GMB
6. Simon Brown
Sponsored by: Garden Gate Ultras
7. Danny Ansell
9. Jack Lee
10. Lewis Reed
11. Daniel Williams
12. Jake Normington
13. Matt Carbutt
14. George Flanagan
15. Craig Robinson
Sponsored by: Alan Stephenson & Kenny Sykes
16. Jamie Milburn
Sponsored by: Available Call 0113 2712730
17. Michael Haley
Timeline
00:07 Stewart Sanderson Try
00:14 Stewart Sanderson Try
00:14 Simon Brown Goal
00:33 Mufaro Mvududu Try
00:33 Simon Brown Goal
00:37 Simon Brown Goal
00:37 Jake Normington Try
00:52 Jimmy Watson Try
00:52 Simon Brown Goal
01:06 Simon Brown Goal