Hull FC v Wigan Warriors - Engage Super League XVI Round 23.
Friday 29th July 2011. Kick Off 8:00pm at Kingston Communications Stadium.

Match Report

This trip was always going to be a difficult game, being sandwiched between two massive cup ties against Warrington and St Helens. I don't think the performance really mattered, it was all about getting the result and moving on. Fair enough the league leaders shield is a nice thing to win but it's chicken feed compared to a potential trip to Wembley.

Coach Michael Maguire again chose to rotate his squad with Harrison Hansen and Paul Prescott dropping out from the cup victory at Warrington to be replaced by Liam Farrell and Ben Cross.

Hull got off to the perfect start with a third minute try from their top scorer Kirk Yeaman. Bit of luck because Mark O'Meley nearly dropped the ball but again our right side defence is being punished. Not sure you can just lay the blame on Joel Tomkins and Josh Charnley for this one though. They were left in a 2 on 4 situation and your not going to stop that. The defensive line didn't slide well enough! Danny Tickle converted to make it 6-0.

Wigan continued to be on the back foot with a penalty conceded by Sean O'Loughlin and a knock on from George Carmont giving Hull more shots at our line but our defence was pretty solid.

Amazingly it took 12 minutes before Wigan got some possession in the opposition half, following an error from O'Meley, but they showed how clinical they are by scoring on their first real attack. Nice grubber from Brett Finch was collected by Sam Tomkins and he reached over to score under the posts. Easy conversion made it 6 all.

That try had got Wigan into the contest and they had Hull on the back foot for the period following that equalising try, but it took a 95 metre intercept from Pat Richards to give us the lead.

It came in the 26th Minute. Danny Tickle threw a forward pass straight into the arms of Pat and despite good chasing from Danny Houghton and Tom Briscoe he went all the way for the score. He couldn't convert though so the score was just 10-6 to Wigan,

Fate would continue to prove to be on Wigan's side with two more scores in quick succession. First a lovely grubber from Sam bounced wickedly for Hull but kindly for George Carmont to score from. Then the mother of all brain farts saw Jordan Turner, almost on his own try line, pass to absolutely no one. Finch scooped up the loose ball and offloaded nicely to give Pat what was probably the easiest try of his Wigan career. Hull must hate playing against Pat because that was his 17th try in 11 Wigan appearances against them. Only once has he failed to score when playing them. He converted both tries to make it 22-6 to Wigan and we'd hardly broke sweat. It was at this point, six minutes before the break, that coach Maguire interchanged Sam Tomkins perhaps with next week in mind?

Maybe that contributed to Wigan being guilty of switching off late in the half? Three penalties helped march Hull up field and they managed to score right on the hooter. A grubber from Richard Horne bounced everywhere and fell kindly for Turner to score. Tickle missed a poor conversion though.

With a 22-10 half time score the first try of the second half was going to be a big one and when Hull got it on 49 minutes it was always going to be game on after that. It was a nice try with Willie Manu scoring under the posts, although both Gareth Hock and Ginger Farrell were guilty of poor missed tackles. Easy Tickle conversion made it 22-16.

Maybe it was sheer coincidence but Hull had scored twice in Sam Tomkins' absence so after that score he was sent back onto the field and this settled Wigan back down. On 58 minutes Pat kicked a simple penalty goal to make it 24-16 and although it proved that Hull wouldn't score again in this game, we still very much needed a try to seal the win.

It came from that man Sam on 72 minutes. He scored a classy one against Warrington last week and this was better for me. He is 72 metres away from the try line. Hull had just gifted possession back to Wigan and Sam noticed they are all at sea in defence. Such is his confidence he barrels Carmont and Mike McIlorum away from the play the ball area as if to say "sod off, this is mine!". Why's he done that? Because he has spotted the gap and he just gets the ball, darts through it and goes all the way under the sticks. You cannot teach quick thinking mentality like that, you either have it or you don't. Tickle and Houghton were both too tired to deal with him and, especially after his long rest earlier in the game, he had the pace the burn. He is just getting better and better and better isn't he? Pat converted and a 30-16 lead sealed the two points. Job done - bring on next week!

Reaction to the Action

Michael Maguire: "We took our chances. We probably didn't have as many as we would like so I'm glad we took the ones we did. They were in a position at stages where they could threaten us. At times our attack showed some good signs and it was a good hit-out, the sort we needed, before next weekend's game. It was a game where we expected Hull to turn up and put on a tough game and they did. Physically it was a tough game for our players. We had a few walking wounded but they should all be okay. That says a lot about the game. Sam (Tomkins) got a bump and, being aware of everything that was going on, I pulled him off and got the medical staff to have a look at him. There were a number of players who deserve credit tonight. It was a good team performance. Sam is a good player and I'm glad he's on our team. He's a tough player. He's a real competitor."

Hull FC Coach Richard Agar: "I think we committed rugby league suicide for a short time in the first half. The errors were damaging and simply, against a top side, you can't gift them 16 points. But, the errors could have been deflating to our team, but I thought we showed belief and spirit to pull it back and give ourselves a chance of winning it. We gave them too much of a start and for big parts we were tough. We lost Sam Moa and Radford and that had an effect. But we have a rest now, and we will look to get players fixed up. We need to iron things out of our game. There's some genuine belief in the side and we can't fault the toughness. We have some strike on us and we know we have improvements in us."

Team Sheets

Score Sheet

Scoring and Incident Pattern

Video Highlights

Top 5 Wigan Players as voted on our Message Board

Man of the Match: Sam Tomkins
2nd: Brett Finch 3rd: Ryan Hoffman 4th: Lee Mossop 5th: Josh Charnley

Referee

Ben Thaler

Penalties Conceded

Hull FC 7 Wigan 14

Video Referee

Steve Ganson

Match Attendance

11,729

Weather

Dry.

League Table at Conclusion of Super League 16 Round 23

Round 23 Results

Fri 29 July	Salford City Reds 22 Leeds Rhinos 30	4,024
Fri 29 July	Hull FC 16 Wigan Warriors 30	11,729
Sat 30 July	Catalan Dragons 48 Harlequins 22	8,471
Sat 30 July	Huddersfield Giants 46 Hull Kingston Rovers 26	6,464
Sun 31 July	Warrington Wolves 64 Bradford Bulls 6	10,641
Sun 31 July	Castleford Tigers 26 St Helens 46	6,802
Sun 31 July	Wakefield Wildcats 6 Crusaders 40	6,428