Hullensians thirds 0
Withernsea RUFC 59
After four wins on the trot, with a four-try bonus point in each, Withernsea sat proudly at the top of the East Yorkshire Merit Table.
This success has generated a real team spirit among the players and a desire to play as much rugby as possible.
Hullensians thirds had been left without opponents for their scheduled home game, so Withernsea stepped in, despite having more than five players unavailable.
It was a sign of how the squad has developed under the guidance of coach Pete Batley, with 18 players available, including five who had not played this season.
The forwards looked very different, without their regular second row and with a couple of lads playing out of position.
It was one of these players who got Withernsea on the scoreboard. Sam Hartland, who was a handful for Hullensians all afternoon, barged through five defenders to score his first try.
It was not long before he was on the charge again. This time Sam was stopped just short of the line, but he made the ball available to Dan Wardman, who put Rob Hird into space out wide.
Rob gratefully fell over the line from close range – the sort of try he loves.
Hullensians were under the cosh but won a penalty and used the advantage to move the ball downfield.
Then came a big mistake as the home side chose to kick long to the waiting full-back, Kiril Prigorkins, who skittled his way to just short of the line before popping the ball to Will Folkard, who had supported well and scored Withernsea’s third try.
The four-try bonus point was secured when Dan made a break through the middle and good rucking got the ball to Shae Whitrod, who ran like a bull on the charge to score his first try.
Ethan Wilson had his kicking boots on again and slotted his third conversion to make it 26-0 to the visitors.
Withernsea continued their dominant first half, with Sam scoring his second try on the charge before Ethan joined in the fun, breaking through the middle of the park to score Withernsea’s sixth try and take the visitors into the break 40-0 ahead.
The second half brought more of the same, with Withernsea continuing to attack.
Credit must go to Hullensians, however, who had lost nine players on the morning of the game. They stuck to their largely defensive task but also created a couple of chances that could have resulted in tries had the final passes not been blatantly forward.
The visitors’ hard running was relentless and Kiril went on another beautiful, jinking run, showing pace and strength to score from distance.
Shae then grabbed his second try, probably not as gracefully as Kiril, but no less powerfully.
As the end of the game approached, Shae again broke through the shattered defence and, with just the full-back to beat, chose not to use his renowned sidestep but instead ploughed straight towards the defender.
Hullensians’ full-back showed great bravery and produced the tackle of the day to stop him, but Ethan had supported well and benefited from Shae’s hard yards to complete the scoring with Withernsea’s ninth try.
Ethan converted to record his seventh successful kick from nine attempts.
The final score of 59-0 reflected the way Withernsea are approaching games, with a relentless go-forward, keep-the-ball policy that is working well.
Hullensians played their part in a match contested in a positive spirit throughout.
Withernsea now have a rest week before heading up to Bridlington to face their second team on Saturday, November 14.
