Referee Assessors are not renowned for their verbosity so it was quite a compliment on Saturday afternoon when the match assessor noted at the end of another entertaining match at Leicester Road that the Hinckley defence coach had really earned his money. He was right. In a match which was oddly reminiscent of last weeks fixture against Luctonians, Hornets spent much of the second half repulsing wave after wave of Hull attacks in their own 22m area. What was different was that they were also defending into a howling gale and driving rain. That the line was only breached once was little short of miraculous.

Add to that a spectacular 35m pushover try, a solid performance in the scrum where Hull had expectations of dominance, another sound kicking performance by Joe Wilson in difficult conditions and you have another convincing win for the Leicester Road men.

DOR Scott Hamilton was a happy man after the game. ‘It was a solid performance against a good side who went into the game looking to avenge their heaviest defeat of the season when we visited their place. The second half was the best defensive effort we have put in this season and the work that (defence coach) Ben Avent has put in with the lads is really paying dividends. If you compare the number of phases we have defended in our own 22m with the number of tries conceded in the last few weeks you have a very clear indication of how strong that defence has become. I was disappointed that we didn’t get the bonus point. Perhaps we were a little conservative in our approach and I do feel that sometimes we fail to put our foot on the throats of the opposition when we are on top. We also, not for the first time, gave away too many penalties but overall I can’t complain. This was the first of four very tough games for us and it couldn’t have started much better.’

Hornets started well! A line-out steal just inside the Hinckley half allowed Hornets to carry deep into the Hull 22m. The attack was only halted by a high tackle by Hull No. 8 Latu Makaafi who earned himself ten minutes in the bin for his efforts. With the Hull pack down to seven men, Hornets scorned the opportunity of three easy points and opted for the scrum. The scrum went down but the ball was released along the line, only for the ball carrier to be hauled down short. The pack took it on and Dave Peck eventually forced his way over for the score. Joe Wilson added the extras.

Hull playmaker Simon Humberstone pulled three back a couple of minutes later when Hinckley disappointingly lost the ball from the kick-off and were then caught offside on their 22m line but Hornets were largely in the driving seat at this point.

It was not though until the closing minutes of the half that Hornets were able to add to their tally. The Hornets pack made a mess of a Hull lineout 5m from the Hull line, forcing Hull to carry into touch. The Hinckley line-out was too a scrappy affair but Ben Pointon was able to recover the ball and set up a forward drive. This time it was Jamie Skerritt who came up with the ball and Wilson was again able to add the extras.

Psychologically, it was an important score just before half-time with the conditions starting to deteriorate and gave Hornets something to defend in what was likely to be a difficult second half.

In the event, they were more than up to the challenge as Hull battered away without success at the Hornets line without ever really looking like they were going to breach that line.

Indeed it was Hornets who grabbed the next score after 63 minutes. With Hull again down to 14 after Hull flanker Tom O’Donnell had attracted the ire of the referee, Hornets secured a lineout some 30m from the Hull line. The ball was secured and the drive set….and it just kept going all the way to the line with the Hull pack seemingly unable to do anything to stop it. Luke Coltman got his name on the scoresheet but it was a fine whole pack effort. Wilson’s kick from just inside the touch line drifted wide.

That was arguably the killer blow. Hull started to chase the game throwing the ball around with some abandon which in the conditions was impressive but they could not find a way through the black and gold line.

The game was effectively over when Hull did eventually get some reward for their efforts deep into time added on. A scrum penalty gave Humberstone the opportunity to set up an attacking line-out some 5m from the Hinckley line. The line-out was a mess but Hornets were penalised and Hull opted for a second attempt. This time it worked and Hull were able to drive over at last for O’Donnell to claim the score. The conversion was missed and the referee brought proceedings to a halt shortly afterwards.

Net week, Hornets travel to Otley who pipped Hornets at the death in their last encounter at Leicester Road. Hinckley will be looking to avenge that defeat in what is likely to be a dogged encounter at Cross Green.

Nick Robinson