Hooker Jordan Johnstone has said he is pleased with his own personal display having taken to the field for the first time this season in Saturday’s victory over Featherstone.
Johnstone scored a try in the 34-14 win over the Betfred Championship side which saw Hull progress through to the quarter-finals of the Betfred Challenge Cup.
Despite his own positive performance, Johnstone believes there is room for improvement across the squad after a challenging second-half in which the hosts put up a stern fight in the match
Speaking after Saturday’s win, in an interview sent to 2021 members first, Johsntone said: “The first-half was pretty strong. We executed our plays well, but we weren’t as good as we had been over the last two weeks in the second-half, but Featherstone are a difficult opponent and we’re pleased to progress.
“We knew they were a decent team coming into the game. They’re going to be up there at the top end of the Championship this season.
“They’ve assembled a good squad so we knew they were going to come out firing and that early try from them gave us a kick up the backside that we needed.
“They play quite an expansive style of rugby which is quite exciting to watch, but maybe not for us. We’re just pleased to get through and set up an exciting tie against Wigan to look forward to.
He continued: “You don’t realise how tough going uphill at Featherstone is until you play on, but there is plenty to improve on from that second-half.”
On his own personal performance, the hooker added: “It was nice to get back out there and get the lung pumping. Having had a bit of an injury in pre-season, it was important that I played the eighty minutes today to get some minutes under the belt.
“Brett has spoken to me a lot about my work around the ruck and improving and engaging those markers and getting us forward, and being a bit crafty around the ruck. I tried to show a bit of that today.”
Johnstone managed to bag his first try of the season on the night, and explained: “I’ve been practicing those round plays in training – scoring more tries is something I want to add to my game so I was pleased that that move paid off.”
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