Fonua relieved as Hull survive Castleford blitz
Mahe Fonua admitted Hull FC had survived a gruelling examination from Castleford as the holders held on to book their place in the Challenge Cup semi-finals.
After an impressive cross-field run from Australian Mark Minichiello, Fonua seized upon a pass before crashing over with 15 minutes remaining. That was shortly followed by a Jamie Shaul try as reigning champions Hull pulled into a 14-point lead.
Super League leaders Castleford had won eight successive matches going into the game and gave themselves hope when Greg Minikin went over late on but Hull held on to record a 32-24 win.
“We knew Cas were going to come down all guns blazing, they are top of the league, and we didn’t expect anything less,” said Fonua, who will return to the Australian Super League at the end of the season to join the Wests Tigers. “We knew they would fight all the way to the end. Even though I scored with 12 minutes to go, we knew they would come all the way to the end. “It was a bit of black magic with a Fijian touch with the try.” Carlos Tuimavave and Fetuli Talanoa tries and a Jake Connor penalty gave Hull a 14-12 halftime lead with Ben Roberts and Zak Hardaker scoring for the visitors.
Connor then kicked three more penalties and Roberts crossed again before Hull made their crucial scores. In the last four, Castleford will face Leeds, who thumped Featherstone Rovers 58-0 in their quarterfinal. The other semi-final will see Salford play Wigan, the only side outside of Super League’s top four left in the competition.
Salford ran out 30-6 winners over Wakefield, while Wigan survived a late scare to get past Warrington 27-26.
Tony Smith’s Wolves had two late chances to win it but Stefan Ratchford was off target with his long-range penalty and Declan Patton put his drop-goal attempt wide.
Wigan head coach Shaun Wane said: “We could easily have lost that which would have been frustrating because I thought we did enough to win it comfortably.
“We gave ourselves a lot to do, cheap plays, unforced errors and the penalty count was against us again.
“Warrington were never going to lie down, they showed a lot of desire to stay in that game and makes that victory a bit more sweeter.” In the weekend’s only Super League clash, Rick Stone won the battle of the Australian coaches as his Huddersfield side beat Justin Holbrook’s St Helens 24-16.
Former Saints man Lee Gaskell scored the clinching try for his side’s third consecutive win although much of the post-match talk was also about new signing Jordan Rankin from Wests Tigers.
He said: “To win the way we did tonight was really satisfying and was probably the toughest and the most courageous I think we’ve played since I’ve been here, which is nearly 12 months now.” — AFP