An early James Cameron penalty put Hull into a 3 point lead and they soon went further ahead following a bizarre sequence of play which turned out to be the pattern of the match. A bad Harrogate knock on led to a Hull scrum but the visiting pack then brilliantly turned over Hull possession to set up a counter attack. However, a wild pass was intercepted by Danny Smith and the Hull winger had an unopposed run for a try converted by Cameron.

Harrogate then showed what they had to offer with some quite brilliant phases of play but, all too often, the moves ended with basic errors. They had reasonable parity at the set pieces with new prop, Andy Fraser scrummaging well and good line-out work from Chris Wilson and James Spencer. Hull eventually set up a counter attack and their powerful centre, Tevita Vaikona made good ground in support of a break by former Harrogate player, Max Lewis. James Greene backed up well to score and make it 15-0 after 20 minutes.

More Harrogate attacking moves followed with sustained breaks by Jamie Broadley and Kyle Dench. This led to a driving maul which released quick ball and a Mike Aspinall try opened Harrogate’s account. Almost immediately, another Harrogate handling error resulted in loose ball from which Hull counter attacked and 2nd Row Phil Murphy scored.

Hull scored 2 more penalties to extend their lead before half time though they also lost prop Adi Longbone to the sin bin. He’d put in an illegal head to head tackle on Harrogate’s Tim Heaton and distinctly came off worst in that encounter. Longbone required lengthy medical treatment and then, to add insult to injury, was yellow carded.

Harrogate came out of their blocks and again attacked from the resumption. Their pack turned a Hull scrum and quick ball was recycled to Ed Smithies whose try was converted by Ali Chalmers from the touchline. Hopes of a recovery were quickly dashed when an Aspinall attempted clearance was charged down and Hull’s Matt White scuttled through for a converted try.

Harrogate continued to attack at every opportunity and good ball was repeatedly created by their 2 outstanding forwards, Heaton & Jake Brady. However they were thwarted by a combination of good defence and their own handling errors. A Hull penalty then led to an attacking line-out from which Sione Onesi drove over to score. This was Hull’s 6th try but it was the first one that hadn’t resulted from a blatant Harrogate error.

The crowd continued to be entertained by fast attacking rugby and a mini altercation led to Mr Sheard calling opposing centres Dench & Vaikona together. They were presumably asked to shake hands but hammed it up with a midfield cuddle, much to everyone’s amusement. An excellent Harrogate backs move followed from which Dench scored a well taken try. Onesi then completed Hull’s try scoring with a carbon copy of his previous effort from a driving maul.

Harrogate’s attacks continued & Brady was just held up from what would have been a well deserved try. A Rob Almond try then earned Harrogate’s bonus point and Smithies was then put into space to touch down and make the final score 47-27

Hull
Greene, Piercy, Vaikona, Cameron, Smith, West, White, Longbone, Plevey, Fullman, C Murphy, P Murphy, Lewis, Onesi, Devonshire

Harrogate
Smithies, Rothwell (Chalmers 13 then Lucock 55), Dench, Broadley, Almond, Aspinall, Wickham, Browne, Weaving (Maycock 47), Fraser (Innes 55), Spencer, Brady, Rieder (Enston 52), Heaton, Wilson

Referee
Rob Sheard (RFU)