Hull Ionians 24 vs 18 Harrogate

Ionians remain rooted at the bottom but, badly as they played, Harrogate were even worse on the day.

Soon after the kick off, a Harrogate line kick was fielded at pace by Hull’s full back, Will Du Randt. Breaking several tackles, he sped down the right wing and, when he was eventually checked, winger Gary Stephenson supported well to score.

Repeated home scrum offences then led to a Harrogate penalty from which Matt Roberts reduced the arrears. However, Harrogate made a mess of gathering the restart and, although they recovered possession, they went offside for Glenn Boyd to make it 8-3 for Ionians.

The Harrogate pack were performing well with Tim Heaton at the heart of everything and good line-out ball being won by the Brady brothers and Chris Wilson. Prop, Ben Innes made a powerful attacking run through midfield but was tackled just short of the line. Good ruck ball was picked up by hooker, Steve Maycock who crashed for an equalising try near the posts. Matt Roberts unfortunately failed with his conversion attempt.

Harrogate then put themselves under pressure with over adventurous play in their own22 and eventually went offside for a Boyd penalty to restore the home lead. A searing Sam Bottomley break then took him within inches of Hull’s line and Heaton was on hand to score and put Harrogate ahead with a converted try. Roberts failed to extend this lead with a penalty opportunity near half time.

Harrogate had a mistake ridden start to the second half with an abundance of handling errors. Hull failed to take advantage of these opportunities particularly when a seemingly certain try was missed when they had a 3 man overlap near Harrogate’s line. Another Boyd penalty closed the gap and this was quickly followed by another which put Hull ahead again.

Some disjointed Harrogate attempted attacks followed but lateral running from the base was in marked contrast to decisive play from Hull’s young scrum half, Isaac Green. A strong Nev Morrison left wing break through some feeble Harrogate defence led to a converted try from Hull’s outstanding centre, Sam Bowring.

Another strong Bottomley run almost led to a Harrogate try and poor backs alignment saw another opportunity spurned. Eventually Hull went offside during Harrogate’s last attack of the match and Roberts’ penalty earned a bonus point for the visitors

Harrogate: Smithies, Ellison, Bottomley, Heylings, Roberts, Davies, Wickham, Browne (Fraser 50), Maycock (Yorke 60), Innes, J Brady, S Brady (Spencer 60), Wilson (Peacey 65), Maud, Heaton.

Hull Ionians: Du Randt, Stephenson, Marns, Bowring, Morrison, Boyd, Green, Jenkinns, Rice, Quigley, Makin, Kench, Sanders, Skyrme, Acton

Referee: Phil Watters (RFU)