Sheffield 40 v 10 Hull Ionians

Welcome all to 2024.
I was dragged out of hibernation and into the New Year by a call from President Pat. A bloodshot and bleary eye blinked into life, in response to the persistent ping of an incoming message from the Cucurbita King. He invited me to travel across the mired wetlands of East Yorkshire and on to the Steel City to enjoy the culinary delights on offer from the good burghers of Abbeydale and watch the first team take on Sheffield. How could one refuse?
So, come Saturday morning, off we set, sure in the belief that the new year would bring a change in fortunes for the team. For the opening quarter of the game the bijou bunch of travelling supporters dared to dream.
A Lewis Minikin penalty after five minutes capped off a very good start by Ionians. It also brought up a personal tally of a thousand points by Lewis for the club. Congratulations to him on that milestone, it has been a pleasure to observe.
The opening moments were accentuated by tackling from the visitors, led by Joe Makin and enthusiastically supported by the back-row, that knocked back the sizeable home pack and set the entire team back on their heels.
It took Sheffield a good ten minutes to settle, but they used a succession of penalties to get to within 10m of the Ionians line. From the line-out they moved the ball to fly-half Jonny West, in mid field, and he executed a pin point kick to the corner, where James Flint was positioned to take a simple catch and dot down unmolested. West knocked over the difficult conversion to give Sheffield a 7 – 3 lead.
Ionians were quick to respond. Charlie Kirk dummied his way out of bother before clearing the ball up field. Ionians were able to keep Sheffield pinned in their own half; the pack drove on through several phases to get within striking distance and Lucas Powell put his head down to barge his way to the line and over for a try. Minikin goaled to put Ionians in front, 7 – 10, with just over fifteen minutes played.
Sheffield hit back through the forwards. Ionians tackling looked to be up to the task but the relentless use of the big lads released utility back (row), Rob Burrows, to come off the wing and barge through close to the line. Despite being stopped he had Archie Crapper following up and he flopped over the line to score. West made no mistake with the kick and Sheffield led 14 – 10 after 25 minutes of play.
Crapper was over again, minutes later, as the home pack began to dominate play, especially at the line-out. They rumbled one good catch and drive from just inside the visitors 22, over the line for try number three. It was successfully converted by West, to go 21 -10 ahead. That score held up to the break.
Ionians’ resilience was exemplary during the opening stages of the second half. There were occasions when the hosts looked as if they had broken the shackles, most notably when Burrows burst away from the base of a scrum and Callum Posa kicked ahead to take play 70 yards up field and to within 10m of the Ionians line, but overall Sheffield made little headway and the home sides frustration was palpable.
The pivotal moment for Ionians came on the hour, when they lost the services of Powell. Callum Sanderson had already been deployed as a replacement for Frankie Gascoigne, so they were forced to re-shuffle and put Joey Martin into the unfamiliar back-row berth. It sufficiently disrupted the visitors to give Sheffield an edge and they added three tries in ten minutes following Powell’s departure.
They exploited the advantage immediately. Ionians lost possession at a scrum, even as the Ionians bench were bellowing at the apparent illegal intervention of the Sheffield blind-side flanker, Sheffield broke away and up the stand-side touch for winger, Christian Hooper, to slide in at the corner flag. The bonus point score led to jubilation amongst the ranks and then encouraged a more expansive game from the hosts.
It was actually replacement hooker, Angus Hughes, who added Sheffield’s fifth try, following a catch and drive, but they then put together a flowing move which swept across the field and back again for Hooper to bag his second score.
Ionians finished with a flourish and George Mewburn looked to have gained some reward for his intrepid endeavours when he powered over, but he was called back for crossing. They had one final dart at the line but poor hands put the ball to ground and Burrows hoofed the ball into touch to end an entertaining but ultimately fruitless performance at Abbeydale.