REVENGE IS SWEET
Hull 36 Salford 37 Match Report – David Clegg
Belief in the old adage that the game is never over ‘til the final whistle was borne out twice last night, with first Jake Mullaney’s marvellous equalising goal from the touchline, on the hooter, and then Rangi Chase’s match winning drop-goal, seven and a half minutes into extra time.
Following last week’s below par effort, it must have been particularly satisfying for the players to have seized the opportunity to set the record straight and to confine that previous encounter the history books, for it is indeed Salford’s ball which is in the bag for the next round draw, thanks in particular to way they managed the Golden Point extra time.
Having won the second toss of the evening, they very wisely chose to kick off to Hull towards the North Stand which housed the Salford supporters. Both decisions paid dividends since Hull received the ball on their own try line, whilst also ensuring that on attack they had the encouragement of the vociferously, enthusiastic Salford fans, as opposed to the barracking of the home supporter with which Mullaney(right) had had to contend to land his equaliser.
The Red Devils were consequently able to build pressure patiently, and work to produce the position and opportunity to take a drop goal. Two end of set kicks were recovered by the Airlie Birds, but the third was fluffed by Ben Crooks on his 20m line, and the subsequent Salford set was used initially to improve upon that position, before slipping the ball on only the fifth tackle for Chase (below) to send the it sweetly between the uprights and bring the match to an end.
In a roller coaster of a first half, It was hat-trick hero, Francis Meli, who opened the Salford account on seven mins, when he was picked out, unmarked, by Chase’s long pass, which with the first of Mullaney’s hundred percent goal kicking successes, wiped out Hull’s six point lead they had acquired three minutes earlier. Three minutes later and it was Rangi again who this time sold the cleverest of dummies to ghost in by the posts, and so put the Devils in front for the first time, at 6-12.
That lead was doubled, on 29 mins, but then a kick to the corner caught Meli in two minds and Hull were able to pull back four points. Meli did, however, make amends on the half hour when he got himself on the end of a kick-in-goal, to stretch their lead tp10-18.
Had the Red Devils been able to keep their line intact for the remainder of the half it would have given them some cushioning against any second half comeback. As it was, however, the failure to find touch from one of very few Salford penalties cost them dear, since the home side turned the unexpected possession into points, Having first been held up over the line in the corner, they moved the ball in field for a score between the posts, and the 16-18 half time score suggested that this could be anybody’s game.
Hopes that the visitors would have corrected their erraticity for the second half proved to be unfounded and the first twenty minutes of the second half was a quite frustrating time. Handling error upon handling error, allowing the ball to bounce at kicks, and a succession of conceded penalties, all conspired to give Hull sufficient position and possession to put themselves ahead. That two point half time lead lasted less than three minutes, and from there the Hull lead was twice stretched to ten points, and later to six, as Salford desperately tried to claw their way back into the game.
But claw their way back into it they did. Inspired once again by the introduction of Theo Fages, openings in the home defence started, on their steadier occasion, to be exploited, and three of these led to tries.
First Fages, on 57 mins, confounded the Hull defence with a quick scoot from the play the ball. Then on 69 mins Meli on his own 30m line put Chase in the clear with an excellent pass, and with the support of a number of players close to the line, the ball came to the ever improving Junior Sa’u Sa’u for him to cross for his second score in two matches. Finally, with just over a minute left on the clock, in an almost identical repeat of his first try, Francis Meli (right) crossed in the corner to complete his hat-trick thanks to Chase’s equally clever pass which exploited Hull’s poor man for man marking. This left the result of the game hinging on Mullaney’s conversion. Showing nerves of steel under the intense pressure he must have been under, he calmly silenced the baying home crowd as he struck it straight over the bar, and the game onto the extra stanza>
The delirium at the Salford end of the ground, which followed the very final whistle, was in complete contrast to the virtually empty stadium around which the home team was left to parade. What a masterstroke the Chairman’s decision to provide free transport for the fans had proved, as they repaid him throughout , with their well-timed, and telling, roars of encouragement which out-did their home counterparts for so much of the game. Their contribution was as important as anyone’s.
Hull scorers:
Tries – Arndell (2), Shaul (2), Talanoa, Rankin
Goals – Crooks (6)
