Sheffield Tigers 49 v 5 Hull Ionians

Sheffield Tigers 49 v 5 Hull Ionians.

Van Morrison wrote a classic song “ There’ll be days like this” which could have included the verse:-

When you’re not at the races, there’ll be days like this,
When it’s Dore Moor, of all places, there’ll be days like this.
When you don’t match the passion, just let things happen,
Then, we must remember, there'll be days like this.

It didn’t because, amongst other things, the song is an upbeat refrain about better times, focusing on better days and better moments and not reliving days when we just want to pull the covers over our head, like Saturday. So, let’s move on.
Unfortunately this is a match report, so for those who weren’t there and those masochists that want to re-live the memory…
Ionians started badly and got worse. From the off Tigers sensed Ionians were not at their best and came at them hard and never relented.
It was a combative opening and Tigers had the first chance of points, with a penalty in front of the posts. There are few better than Mark Ireland off the tee and he obliged with the three points.
Arguably one of the few better kickers is Lewis Minikin. On his day he is imperious, but it wasn’t his day. Given the chance to even the scores his effort from 30m drifted wide.
Sheffield were full of controlled aggression with Dan Hawksworth charging hard at the Ionians defence. In stemming the flow Ionians lost Will Stowe, shown a yellow card for a high tackle, to make Ionians task all the harder.
Despite that Ionians caused the home side problems, with breaks by Lewis Minikin and Will Yates, before they conjured up a try to take the lead.
Following a scrum 15m from the Tigers line, Ionians were awarded a penalty that was hoofed into touch. A good catch and drive led to a try for Scott Westwood, again the difficult kick failed to hit the mark and Ionians had a slender two point advantage.
It was very attritional at this stage and Ireland took the opportunity to add to his tally with a penalty, with 25 minutes played, to nudge Tigers back into the lead.
A break by James Thompson took Ionians up to the Tigers 22, but a lack of support resulted in a penalty and a booming kick from Will Baker transferred play back deep into the visitors’ half.
Another penalty given away by Ionians in front of the posts was a formality for Ireland and he stretched the lead to 9 – 5.
The re-start went directly into touch and from the resultant scrum the ball was swept up the blind-side and Jamie Broadley raced away to score in the corner. Ireland nailed the conversion and Tigers were leading 16 – 5 and had their tails up.
The home side dominated the remaining 10 minutes of the half and in the final moments extended the lead from a catch and drive, centre Barney Goatley latching on to the back of the maul to touch down. During the resistance Ionians prop, Calvin Mitchell, attracted the ire of the official and was dispatched to the bin.
Starting the second half playing up the slope, Ionians’ task became an up-hill battle with the loss of Tyler Heelas to injury. They survived a torrid opening spell but Tigers kept pressing and Broadley set up a try for Harry Chapman when he held off a couple of tackles to power his way to the line before popping a pass out to the winger. Inevitably Ireland added the extra points to extend to lead to 28 -5.
Ionians seemed to get on the wrong side of Mr Jones. Two penalties within the space of five minutes lead to two tries for the home side.
Ionians looked to have got away with the first offence when they regained possession but had the clearance kick charged down for James Norman to gather and cross close to the touch- line.
Almost from the re-start Ionians were penalised for a high tackle and Tigers again went for touch and drove over for a try for Will Archer.
42 – 5 down with 20 minutes remaining, Ionians were facing the ignominy of a “fifty pointer”. This looked inevitable when Broadley added his second try following a poor line-out from Ionians that gave Tigers the chance to kick down field, winger Norman was first to the ball and he kicked in field where Broadley was on hand to dot down.
Still 18 minutes to play. Ionians held out by the skin of their teeth, thanks to some resolute defence in which Alan Hudson and James Sanderson were to the fore.
Ionians did manage to force the Tigers back into their own half and into doing some defensive duties, but they coped without too many problems because the attacking options were disjointed and individualistic.
The final passage of play exemplified Ionians afternoon. They were well positioned, in possession and were awarded a penalty, only for the decision to be reversed and Hudson shown a yellow card for a high tackle during the turn over. Fortunately, Ireland put the ball into touch to end a thoroughly deflating afternoon for Ionians.
Tigers deserved everything they got. They played with control, aggression and passion. Some suggested they had the rub of the green, but you make your luck and things go your way when you are on top. Well, there are days like this.