FINE margins can determine the outcome of rugby league games as Warrington Wolves were reminded against Hull on Saturday.

Despite a sub-standard display in a bizarre contest that featured a 59-minute second half, The Wire were fractions away from scoring numerous tries.

Warrington Guardian:

But in the end they paid the price for an extremely sloppy 10 minutes in the first half, when Hull half-backs Marc Sneyd and Albert Kelly steered their team to a winning 18-point haul.

That all came from The Wire letting the ball bounce from a re-start, the lack of urgency continuing as Hull scored twice in three minutes through Mickey Paea and Scott Taylor with the defence all at sea.

Then, after Jack Hughes dropped a poor pass from Blake Austin – who was a shadow of the player who scorched over for four tries in the away fixture in March – Hull were in punishing mood again as they went down field and Kelly's powerful burst was too much for Currie to stop.

After that fortunes did not go Warrington's way, most of the cause being of their own doing through poor execution and some shoddy kick-plays though they did have to reshuffle after losing Ryan Atkins, who started the game with a heavily strapped right thigh, with a leg injury.

Warrington Guardian:

And Hull FC, who lost three players to training injuries the day before the game, played a huge part with magnificent scrambling defence.

Warrington Guardian:

Bryson Goodwin was set free by Patton and Austin but he snubbed an inside pass to go for the corner and was caught by full-back Jamie Shaul.

Ben Murdoch-Masila was stopped inches short and then had a perfectly good try ruled out by referee James Child on the stroke of half time. Charnley had batted Austin's kick backwards not forwards, as the officials had judged.

Warrington Guardian:

More chances went begging in a second half that led to Patton being replaced, Stefan Ratchford switching to scrum-half, Goodwin moving to full-back and Sitaleki Akauola performing on the left wing.

Warrington Guardian:

Josh Charnley got to within a whisker of the line, then he had another break and put Austin clear but the stand-off inexplicably stopped and was tackled.

Warrington Guardian:

Austin did put Wire back in the hunt with a trademark dummy, step and power surge but after Hull's Jake Connor was sin-binned, rather than red carded for a punch, his teammates took the steam out of the game with stoppages for injuries that had a feel of 'convenience' about them.

Warrington Guardian:

Wire did try to speed the game up and Goodwin came closest to scoring with a dummy-half burst but Sneyd's 30-metre drop-goal, under no pressure, 12 minutes from time was a killer.

The moment of the game was still to come for many though.

It was a barnstorming kick return from inspired winger Akauola that left Hull prop Taylor seeing stars.



 

INTERESTING NOTES:

. Hull's first win at Halliwell Jones Stadium since June 10, 2016, when they succeeded by exactly the same score, 19-12

. Wire's first loss in five matches

. One team has scored exactly 12 points in five of the last nine meetings

MATCH FACTS:

Super League Round 15, Saturday, May 18, 2019

Warrington Wolves...12 Hull FC...19

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Josh Charnley, Toby King, Ryan Atkins, Bryson Goodwin; Blake Austin, Dec Patton; Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Jack Hughes, Ben Currie, Ben Westwood. Subs: Ben Murdoch-Masila, Jason Clark, Joe Philbin, Sitaleki Akauola

Hull: Jamie Shaul; Ratu Naulago, Jake Connor, Josh Griffin, Kieran Buchanan; Albert Kelly, Marc Sneyd; Scott Taylor, Danny Washbrook, Mickey Paea, Dean Hadley, Mark Minichiello, Joe Westerman. Subs: Chris Green, Jordan Thompson, Masimbaashe Matongo, Brad Fash

Scoring: King try, 10mins, Ratchford goal, 6-0; Paea try, 14mins, Sneyd goal, 6-6; Taylor try, 17mins, Sneyd goal, 6-12; Kelly try, 24mins, Sneyd goal, 6-18; Austin try, 53mins, Ratchford goal, 12-18; Sneyd drop goal, 68mins, 12-19.



 

Penalties: Wolves 7 Hull 7

Sin bin: Connor, 56mins, punching; Murdoch-Masila, 78mins, fighting

Referee: James Child

Attendance: 10,600

Top Man: Sitaleki Akauola