One Hull of an effort from Satae
10 UNDERSTATED PROP THE HERO
PROP star turn Chris Satae grabbed a rare piece of individual glory to send Hull into the Challenge Cup semi-finals.
The giant Tonga forward usually goes unnoticed as one of Hull’s workhorses – but he was pure thoroughbred in this tight clash.
He barged over from close range early in the game, fooling Wigan full-back Zak Hardaker with his angle of attack.
He then repeated the trick in the second half – equalling the number of tries he’d previously scored in his entire career – to put Hull in control. The 28-yearold’s efforts summed up a top display, particularly defensively, by Brett Hodgson’s men.
Satae said: “I’m very happy with tries but it would’ve been nothing if we hadn’t got the win.
“I am really proud of the boys and coaching staff. We knew, with the weather, that we had to keep the ball tight and put all our efforts into our defence.”
Wigan had won a tight Super League clash between these sides last week but they were surprisingly off song here.
They took an early lead with a Jake Bibby try but then proceeded to shoot themselves in the foot with a string of errors.
All of Hull’s points came as a result of Warriors’ blunders – Satae’s first try on the back of a
mistake by Liam Byrne and his second as a result of a knock-on by Bevan French.
They also gifted Marc Sneyd two penalties and Adam Swift rounded off the win with a longrange try after a Willie Isa knock-on.
Warriors coach Adrian Lam said: “We were not Wigan. That garbage is not what we’re about. We were our worst enemy and it’s frustrating.
“It is devastating. It is not who we are and we need to take a good look at ourselves.”
Hull, whose preparation was rocked when they had Jake Connor and Brad Fash suspended in
midweek, played for 10 minutes with 12 men.
Jack Brown was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle shortly before half-time – but they overcame the problems superbly to the delight of new boss Hodgson who said: “I’m very happy that we’re in the next round.
“Chris Satae was just phenomenal. He got our sets rolling and laid the platform for us.
“We knew we had to perform at near our best because Wigan just do not go away.”
HULL FC: Tries: Satae (2), Swift. Pens: Sneyd (2). Cons: Sneyd (2). WIGAN: Tries: Bibby, Manfredi.
Con: Smith.