T'was another classic served up by the last bastions of Rugby League entertainment, St Helens. Hull played a valiant support act and emerged with something of a moral victory from a brave performance.
Hull played it right and kept plugging away for the full 80. They twice enjoyed 10 point leads yet Saints are always capable of pulling back from the edge of oblivion.
Hull probably ran out of steam in the end but could still have won it but for losing their nerve with good field position with 10 to go. They had three attempts at a drop goal, all from an angle and all rushed efforts from poor set ups.
Sculthorpe showed the Hull kids how it's done by slotting over the drop and the Hull side seemed to accept the inevitable allowing him to power over to seal it late on.
A promising aspect of the game was the performance of the two scrum halves, Horne and Long. Horne got MOM, but both scored one and made several others with quality passes. Good signs for GB.
Hull should watch the video again and again and learn the lessons Saints taught them. Hull were in the game until the death but seemed panicked whenever they were in Saints half from about the hour mark onwards. Some of their young lads need to take Sculthorpe as the example and take note of how he handled himself late on. He and Long became imperious whilst Horne and Cooke shrank into themselves.
With a bit more composure when it counts Hull could soon be serious contenders for the titles.
