Rotherham’s late show beats Hull
IN a game that was always going to be close Rotherham just eased past Hull 20-15 in the last few minutes of a game that Hull had led from the 25th to the 70th minute.
Rotherham kicked off with the slight wind and slope advantage but struggled to find room against Hull’s well organised defence.
A penalty goal after 11 minutes by Lloyd Hayes saw the home side take the lead but Hull were putting pressure on in the scrums and scored next.
A penalty award saw Simon Humberstone’s accurate kick to the right hand touchline give Hull the perfect position for a catch and drive.
The execution was well judged with Loma Kivalu getting the touchdown for an unconverted try and 5-3 at half-time.
Hull had brought props Charlie Beech and Ben Botham on late in the first half and for the second period Harvey Harding came on for Sam Crane.
Hull were soon on the attack and when Rotherham kicked straight out from a drop out under their posts Hull made full use of the ensuing lineout five yards out for Beech to barge over for a try converted by Humberstone to see Hull 12-3 ahead after 50 minutes.
He followed this with a penalty after 59 minutes to see Hull 15-3 ahead.
However, Rotherham were starting to drive the ball through their pack and when they got a chance to catch and drive themselves they camped in the Hull 22m area with Callum Bustin scoring near the posts with Hayes adding the conversion after 67 minutes.
Four minutes later another prolonged maul saw Rotherham hooker Harry Newborn go over with Hayes adding a conversion to see his side leading 17-15.
He made sure of a Rotherham win with a penalty in the last minute to leave Hull with a bonus point and very much in the hunt for a top-four spot