Hull FC Academy were outmuscled by Warrington Wolves Under 18s in a physical encounter that ended 28-16 to the Cheshire outfit.
It was a competitive first-half between the third and fourth placed teams in the Academy Championship, with Lennon Nicholson and Jordon Baker providing responses to tries from Warrington’s Charlie Walker and Cai Taylor-Wray.
But the Wolves flexed their muscles in the second-half, with Jake Ramsden and a Lewis Barratt brace putting paid to any Hull hopes of a victory.
The Match
Having found themselves under early duress, Hull needed Elliot Middlemas to be switched on to prevent the dangerous Francis Sergent from opening the scoring in the right corner inside five minutes.
But Hull’s sloppy start continued, inviting more pressure on their own line after failing to complete a number of sets. So when Ramsden’s short pass allowed Charlie Walker to slice through from close range, the Black & Whites could have few complaints.
The Warrington try woke Hull up, and spectators were treated to more of an arm wrestle. FC’s youngsters demonstrated their ability to capitalise on such circumstances, with Ben Johnson’s perfect pass allowing Nicholson to break through and score from a fair 30 metres out.
Taylor-Wray, who had recently made his professional debut for Warrington, showed his potential to give the visitors a further advantage. His speedy run at first receiver on halfway broke the Hull defensive line, and the fullback was able to beat his opposite man on his way to scoring underneath the posts.
But the dynamic fullback wasn’t immune to a mistake, and his spillage carrying out of his own end of the field gave the hosts possession back on a silver platter. Midway through the set, Alistair Swyer’s pass out of dummy-half allowed Baker to spin out of the contact and ground the ball to get Hull back to within two points of the Wolves.
Once again, Hull winger Middlemas had to have his wits about him when Sergent took in a floated ball and dived in towards the corner, but the presence of the Black & Whites’ defender made the angle too tight.
HALF-TIME: Hull Academy 10-12 Wolves Academy
Early in the second-half, Hull made a mess of their last-tackle option, gifting Warrington possession in a dangerous position. Despite a sensational defensive effort to thwart Daniel Hackney, but there was no stopping Barratt from dummy-half.
The lively hooker made it a quickfire double when he pushed up in support of Taylor-Wray’s laser-sharp break on halfway.
Right up against it on the scoreline, and against a hungry Warrington side, Hull needed the tide of the game to turn in their favour.
Warrington failed to relent, though, and came with wave after wave of attack. The hosts were doing just about enough to stop them from scoring their fifth try of the afternoon, and there was a big round of applause when a cluster of Black & White jerseys managed to hold up Kian Stanton in-goal.
But the referee had spotted a high tackle in the mix, and from the Warrington penalty, Barratt’s on-the-money dummy-half pass allowed Ramsden to crash over the whitewash.
The man in the middle was once again called into action when a large melee broke out just after the restart, with both Ramsden and Jack Charles sent-off for their part in the incident.
Just before the end of the game, Ryan Westerman got inventive with a speculative tip-on pass to Middlemas, but the winger took the ball under his spell and cut inside to score and give FC an extra try for their efforts.
FULL-TIME: Hull Academy 16-28 Wolves Academy
Squads & Scorers
Hull: Johnson, Ward, Nicholson, Westerman, Middlemas, Charles, C. Kemp, Turner, Swyer, Rea, Kirby, Clark, Baker
Hull Interchanges: L. Kemp, Opie, Smith, Thompson
Hull Tries: Nicholson, Baker, Middlemas
Hull Goals: Charles (1/2), Westerman (1/1)
Wolves: Taylor-Wray, Sergent, Gardner, Lindop, Webster, Regan, Westwood, McKler, Barratt, Reid, Walker, Stanton, Ramsden
Wolves Interchanges: Connolly, Hackney, Pearce, Roberts
Wolves Tries: Walker, Taylor-Wray, Barratt (2), Ramsden
Wolves Goals: Sergent (4/5)
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