Radford the Hull treble rouser
LEE RADFORD believes the togetherness of his Hull squad is keeping them challenging on all fronts.
The Black and Whites won their 10th game on the trot, seeing off Catalans Dragons, to reach the Challenge Cup semi-finals and keep their hopes of doing the treble alive and kicking.
Overall, they have won 15 out of 16 matches, putting them top of Super League, with form reminiscent of when Hull went all the way to the Grand Final in 2006 with 17 wins out of 18. Radford starred in that side – and now he can see similar qualities in his current squad.
He said: “I’m really pleased we’re going to a semi-final, we felt we had to do it tough. We didn’t have the possession we wanted, but I felt we defended our line fantastically.
”The way things are going I could win the lottery, but from a rugby point of view we are in a good place.
“We are up against teams who have been there and done it, but we are a determined bunch who are working for one another.
“In 2006 we had a tight group and we maybe overachieved if you look at the teams we knocked off en route to the Grand Final. Our togetherness got us there and you can see that in this group.”
Catalans went 4-0 up through the returning Benjamin Garcia.
But they were ultimately left wanting thanks to tries from Steve Michaels, Frank Pritchard and Danny Houghton – and five kicks from Marc Sneyd.
“I am disappointed we have ended our season in the Challenge Cup,” said Catalans coach Laurent Frayssinous.
“Hull played pretty tough, but the score reflected the gap between the two teams. We made too many mistakes.”