West's try was a brilliant solo effort from the ever hard-working Aaron Myers and his fellow forwards, in particular, could be very proud of the way they played against a big Hull pack. The scrum was solid and the defence excellent throughout despite the presence of some dangerous attacking runners.

A gale blowing diagonally across the pitch played a large part in the game and left the majority of lineouts a lottery, the referee sensibly deciding to abandon the hope of getting a straight throw in the interest of keeping the game going. Playing into the elements in the first half West defended resolutely and frustrated the visitors for the most part. Their one lapse came on the half hour when a turnover on half way caught a few players out of position and Hull fly-half James Cameron showed good vision, astutely chipping for winger Alex Piercy who only had to outpace Chris Stewart for a simple score. Cameron added the conversion to go with a 45 metre penalty he had slotted over 5 minutes into the game.

Straight from the kickoff West were back in the game. Paul Moss hung the restart up in the wind and having gone 10 metre it blew back towards the oncoming West players. Myers duly collected and stormed forward, breaking three or four tackles to go over in the corner for a fantastically taken try.

Cameron added a further penalty 5 minutes before the break but Moss was unsuccessful with a return attempt just before the interval.

A 13-5 half time lead for the visitors didn't look enough given the assistance the wind had provided but as has happened in the past West failed to use the conditions as well as their opponents. An early surge towards the line didn't result in any points and from then on West barely threatened the Hull 22.

The kicking from hand was poor and when the ball was moved through the backs, long passes were carried away from their targets in the wind. Hull on the other hand kicked superbly into the elements, judging every kick perfectly and sorting out the lineout problems they'd had in the first 40 minutes to keep a good supply of possession going.

West's forwards deserved more from the game as they won plenty of ball, totally dominated the scrum and were more than a match for the visiting eight. But territory was all important and without it West never looked like getting back in to the game.

A glimmer of hope came 5 minutes from time when Gareth Kerr broke from his own 22, steaming through a gap in the Hull back-line, only to see his scoring pass to Peter Hodsgon fall to the ground where the referee, perhaps a touch harshly, penalised the centre for a knock-on. It summed up a frustrating afternoon in many respects where once again you were left wondering what might have been.

Fortunately other results mean this defeat doesn't change the overall league position of 7th but this is now the highest we can finish (Middlesbrough have a four point lead with 2 to play and considerably better points difference) and we'll probably need to win one of the two remaining games to hold on to that spot.


West: I Dixon, Kerr, Hodgson, Moss, A Cheslin, Connolly, Williamson, Stewart, Sawyer, C Robinson, T Dixon, I Robinson (D Boatman), J Boatman, Myers, Vinnicombe

Try: Myers


Hull: Harding, Piercy, Norman, Makaafi, Precious, Cameron, White, Jones, Plevey, Ward, Murphy, Cook, Wigg, Onesi, Devonshire.
Reps: Davis-Rice, Peek, Maea

Try: Piercy
Con: Cameron
Pens: Cameron 2

Sin-bin: Murphy