“Field made it difficult for us in the line-out and the scrum in patches, especially after the break. It was pleasing to see the players all getting stuck in for the full 80 minutes and they dug out the win in a very tight game.”
For Huddersfield coach Gareth Lewis felt they had opportunities to win the game but failed to take them and they also struggled to exit from their own 22. “Field fullback Tom Hodson had an excellent game with his powerful illusive running and has been improving every week. I am proud that the team had once again competed toe to toe with one of many good teams in this league and was sure they would come back stronger after next week’s break.”
Hull Ionians collected the kick-off and made good ground driving forwards but when they lost possession Huddersfield had the strong wind at their backs for the first half and used it well to gain field position. After 13 minutes play multi-phase ball in the attacking 22 finally saw Field off half Harry Davey find a gap to jink through and score, Will Milner converting.
Both teams then attacked in turn but against robust tackling the break through was not easy, the home team guilty of losing possession just 10m out, but their forward power in the pack was disrupting Field’s scrums at this stage.
On 24 minutes 2 successive penalties against Field forced a 5m line-out and a good take by James Newman and drive by the pack saw James Sanderson peel off to score.
Five minutes later Hull Ionians attacked in waves again and when held a few metres short Ben Bell picked up and crashed through to score, Lewis Minikin adding the goal to lead 12-7 at the break.
A crafty restart saw Field collect their own restart and drive upfield. Hull Ionians had a chance to clear but once again overthrew the line-out and Field were attacking again, finally creating an overlap for Elliott Knight to score in the corner to level the scores.
Four minutes later another Field attack saw the ball dropped and Ed Falkingham kicked on then kicked again to win a 60 race for a try.
Field drove forwards again and won a scrum penalty kicked by Milner and with ten minutes to go a break by Hodson nearly brought a try, but the ball was knocked on just short.
Two successive penalties put Field back in their 22 where Minikin added three points before 8 minutes of extra time saw the game fought out in midfield with Field’s final attack driven into touch to end the match.