Hull Ionians Hawks 68 Harrogate Georgians 14

After 2 weeks without a game the Hawks were very happy to welcome old adversaries Harrogate for a Yorkshire premier league game. With having a break there were few absent with injuries and the Hawks were able to field a strong side with 7 of the team having National 1 experience this season. Also good to see was new signing Henry Forbes making his club debut after shaking off injuries.
With the benefit of a strong breeze the Hawks camped in the Gate 22 and with the front row of Adrian Longbone,Ally Thomson and Ran Whitehouse dominating the scrum it looked like the forwards would push over for a try. However the Georgians defended hard as they did all afternoon and repelled the immediate danger. Relief was only temporary though as Will Heylings ran hard onto a well-timed pass to cross for the first of his 4 tries against his former club. Stand-off Andy Barrass had brought his kicking boots with him as he added the conversion and went on to convert 9 of the 10 tries. The Hawks weren’t having it all their own way though and they were caught napping when a quick tap penalty gave the Harrogate left wing a clear run into the line. Will Heylings responded to this by taking a quick tap penalty to himself and forcing his way over. Shortly afterwards the far touchline were treated to one of the best sights in rugby as fullback Ollie Martin released Sam Wilson in full stride. Sam had 5 metres to beat his opposite number and scorched around him without a finger been laid on him.
Man of the match number 8 Danny Hague was having a marvellous game making break after break and looking to put the speedy backs away. This was exactly was happened for the next 2 tries with first Andy Barrass being the beneficiary then Will Heylings to bring up the try bonus point and Hat trick respectively.
The second half started with the best try of the match as Sam Wilson as he broke from his own 22 and beat several defenders with sheer pace. The game was marred somewhat after a Harrogate player was stretchered off with what looked like a serious neck injury. I am happy to report though he managed to return home on the team bus after combined treatment from the Harrogate and Ionians physios. After this the game went to uncontested scrums which took the intensity out of the game somewhat. Left winger Ben Rawson showed his pace to score and centre Luke Thundercliffe threw an outrageous dummy to score a try that was just reward for another outstanding display.Harrogate replied with another try when their lively number 10 broke from the halfwayline. Will Heylings ran in for his fourth try before eventually the forwards got in on the act when young second row Chris Darley got over the line to complete the scoring.