Hull Ionians 33 v 26 Billingham
There was a time when teams were picked by a selection committee: on a Tuesday evening they gathered at the club and each selector delivered a report and his verdict on players of potential. The lower sides at Is were blessed to be overseen by Derek Crawley. Derek was inclined to dwell on things other than the game and I well remember him once waxing lyrical on both the weather and the journey undertaken on the way to Market Rasen. I’m not sure he mentioned the match.
This, of course, has absolutely no baring on the fixture against Billingham, except I recalled Derek’s opening sentence as I got out of the car on Saturday. “It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, if not a bit blustery, as we set off over the bridge…”

Billingham started unconcerned with relegation, mathematically safe and sitting pretty in mid table, and were well set on enjoying their rugby. From the off they moved the ball well across field and back, stretching Ionians defence in the early encounters.
Play was taken down field and into touch just inside the Billingham 22. It was overthrown and Ben Stephenson cleaned up at the tail and drove for the line. Several phases later Jamal Khalil was stopped a yard short, right under the posts. He presented the ball, text book fashion, for Joe Makin to gather and step over for the opening try. Ben Smith banged over the conversion for a 7 point lead.
It took the green and whites next to no time to get back to parity. Powerful winger, Jon Horner, dismissed a couple of tackles as he ran down the far touch. When he was eventually hauled down play was swiftly moved in field to Charlie Evans (an outstanding prospect from what has been seen of him in this season’s games) and he stepped inside the cover and outpaced all comers in a race to the sticks. Luke Wilson bought the score to 7 – 7, after a lively opening eight minutes.
Billingham were definitely having the better of play, and possibly the ear of the official, and they elected to take a scrum from a penalty awarded five yards from the Ionians line. Ball in, out, down the line and over for an orthodox score for Joe Scarborough. A well struck conversion from Wilson put Billingham 7 – 14 up, quarter of an hour in.
Ionians responded well. They got down into the visitor’s 22 and from their own line-out take rolled on for Ben Stephenson to crash over. Smith did the necessary and it was back to all square with 20 minutes fast approaching.
The hosts grabbed back the advantage soon after. A break up the middle of the field by the rumbustious Greg Minikin, and good support play, resulted in Khalil sliding over for Ionians third try of the opening half hour. Smith also added his third conversion for a 21 – 14 point lead.
Ionians had to show some resolve as Billingham came back at them with purpose, using their powerful pack to bludgeon away at the defensive wall. A great piece of scrummaging on the home try line (Sam Edwards is some guy, a real David v Goliath confrontation in the front row) got them out of a hole, but it was only a temporary reprieve with Billingham running the ball back from within their own half for Matt Kirby to run in close to the corner. The conversion was wide and the score, 21 – 19, held to the break.
Ionians looked to have stretched the lead early in the second half, when Khalil produced a mazy 25 yard run to the line, only for play to be pulled back for an infringement.
It wasn’t until the hour mark had passed that we saw another score. In the interim we had been entertained by some open and enterprising rugby, the highlight of which was a lovely 50 yards break from James Watts, from his own line to the half way mark. It was a pity his elevated blood pressure distorted his vision because his final pass was wayward in the extreme.
The aforementioned score was claimed by the visitors and their outstanding back-row, Charlie Evans. Following a particularly frenetic passage of play Billingham swung the ball from one side of the pitch to the other, where Evans was lurking. He took the pass and cantered over unopposed. Wilson tagged on the goal to pull them back into the lead, 21 – 26.
Billingham were making the most of the stiff breeze and the referees whistle to stay in the competition but it was obvious that they were beginning to run out of puff.
Ionians turned things up a notch and began to worry the opposition try line. They came close on a couple of occasions before Cam Burnhill scored. He picked off a cross-field kick from George Hotchen, that hung in the air for an eternity, to run over and behind the posts. Smith made it four from four with the goal and nudged Ionians back in to the lead, 28 – 26.
Ionians made the game safe a couple of minutes later with Ben Stephenson capping off another solid performance with his second try, and Ionians fifth, to give a final score of 33 – 26.
Billingham were well worth the two points they earned. They had a youthful side, which augers well for the future and we look forward to meeting up next season.
Ionians can take credit for a respectable performance, with a number of the squad stepping up well in recent weeks. Ben Stephenson (probably entering veteran territory) Jamal Khalil and Greg Minikin have been consistently good through-out; add to that the contributions of Jack Gillingwater, Antony Newell, George Hotchen and the incredibly versatile Archie Upton, amongst others, and it’s easy enough to see why Ionians have had, are having, such a good season.
24 down,2 to go. Next week it’s Preston Grasshoppers over in Lancashire, nip across and see if you can spot Bill.