Hull Ionians 15 v 19 Preston Grasshoppers

How heartening it was to turn up at Brantingham Park and see that there were three games on; the first team, the “mighty” Buccs and the Ramblers were all in action. It didn’t matter that some of the Ramblers were on the ripe side of mature, (they had a healthy contingent of university students for balance), nor that there wasn’t a proper referee (a blessing given events nearby). They got a game of rugby and a win. Likewise, the Buccs.
The first team got a game but not the same result. It wasn’t a good day for the clubs premier squad.
The weather was poor, the officiating worse, but the home sides performance, given what they are capable of, was woeful.
There is nothing that can be done about the weather, it will get worse, but if the team can only perform well in 30-degree heat then it is going to be a very difficult season indeed.
The officiating is always a subjective issue, but some of the decisions were utterly bewildering. There appeared to be no off-side, a situation well exploited by the visitors back-row, the tackle height fluctuated by the minute and when ‘hoppers charged down a kick that went into touch they were awarded the throw-in, how is that possible? But you have to play with what you have got.
The performance was just not good enough. Preston earned the right to celebrate at the final whistle, having turning round a poor start. They were totally outplayed in the opening half hour and should have been boarding the bus home a well beaten side. That they weren’t says more about Ionians short-comings on the day than about the ability of the Preston squad.
The opening half hour was played exclusively in the Preston half. Despite a surfeit of possession Ionians had to make do with a Lewis Minikin penalty, scored in the 15th minutes, for their first points and wait a further five minutes before they got over the line, courtesy of a catch and drive finished off by George Mewburn.
They repeated the feat five minutes later, this time Scott Westwood claimed the prize, to open up a fifteen-point advantage. With nearly all the ball, thanks to an edge in the set piece, and camped in the Preston half, the thought was not about whether they would win but by how many.
There was a nagging doubt that Ionians hadn’t made the most of their dominance. This was writ large when they spurned a clear-cut chance to score; Minikin gathered a kick and waltzed his way through the first line of defence before setting James Thompson away, he drew his man but put his pass out of reach of Nathan Hill and an open run to the line went begging.
It turned out to be a costly mistake, unfortunately not the last. Preston managed to work their way into the Ionians half and apply some sustained pressure. The ball came away from the forwards and Will Hunt, at fly-half, threaded a grubber kick between the home back line for Tyler Spence to race onto and dot down.
The score visibly lifted ‘hoppers and they came back into the home half, and into the game, to snatch a catch and drive try for Scott Richardson on the stroke of half time.
Ionians had a let-off early in the second half when Hunt was wide with a penalty attempt but the hosts conceded another infringement and although they held the initial surge ‘hoppers swung the ball wide for Ed MKeohane to power his way over.
Preston were now much more involved and began to control play. Ionians were unable to put more than a couple of phases together without either losing possession in contact or kicking it away.
The hosts had a brief period in charge and managed to win a scrum within 5m of the ‘hoppers line but George Mewburn was penalised for holding on as he drove his way to within a yard of the try line and Hunt cleared up field.
The standard of play, never high, deteriorated along with the weather. The hosts efforts became increasingly desperate as they went in search of a try. They conceded two further kickable penalties that Hunt failed to execute before rallying to launch a final attempt at redemption.
They won a penalty and put the ball into touch on the visitors 22 but failed to gather the throw cleanly and ‘hoppers cleared away from the resulting scrum. Ionians won the throw and went through several phases and won another penalty, again electing to go to the corner. Again the execution was poor and Preston cleaned up the loose ball to extinguish any hope the hosts had of denying them a merited, if initially unlikely, win.
Billingham provide the opposition next week, the first time the clubs will have met. They are above I’s in the league and seeing this result will be chalking it up as a victory.