Having seen no games in May due to a combination of reasons Dockers were back in action in the Yorkshire First Division as they entertained Huddersfield based Moldgreen.

With the break in games and the boys currently taking their GCSE’s the team were expected to be a little rusty. However, from the kick off Dockers totally dominated the opening quarter of the game. The visitors allowed the kick off to bounce and Harry Trulson was first to react taking the ball twenty meters out which set up a good attacking position and a nice passage of play ended with Charlie Richmond, Asa Mellors and Harvey Bell combining for Rhys Bryant to walk in, in the corner. This gave Richmond a tough touchline conversion which he duly added.

From the restart Dockers pack was on top with a combination of speed at the paly the ball and strong carries taking play into the home half where Richmond completed the set with a kick that rebounded into the hands of Charlie Webster to score to the right of the uprights giving Richmond a much more straightforward conversion. Having finally had a set with the ball a Moldgreen forward pass halted play and once again Dockers made good progress into their opponents half where Richmond again launched a kick which was taken out of the air at pace by Webster who scored his second. With Richmond in fine form with the boot he added Dockers third conversion as the hosts went 18 nil up with just ten minutes played.

Dockers could have been in again as they pressed the visitor’s line though a forced pass saw the ball turned over. After having the lion’s share of possession Dockers then struggled to get ball in hand with a combination of errors and penalties though despite the visitors having 60% of the ball Dockers defence was holding strong. With five minutes to go until half time Moldgreen where camped on the home line on the back of a penalty and a lapse in concentration saw them score a soft try from acting half back.

With the clock running down to half time the visitors had a scrum midway in the Dockers half and on the first tackle they kicked over and chased. A Dockers defender appeared to have batted the ball dead though it sat up over the touchline where it was touched down by Moldgreen for a converted try.

Half time score Hull Dockers 18, Moldgreen 12.

The opening of the second hald saw the visitors with renewed confidence and Dockers doing a lot of defending and Moldgreen hitting a purple patch which saw them score three tries in a ten minute period, as Dockers had in the first half, to give the visitors a 12 point lead. A well placed kick from the restart saw Matty Smith collect the ball for Dockers and take it to within twenty meters of the Moldgreen line. Tom Whur and Dec Codd both took drives for the line and the latter crashed over. Richmond maintained his 100% record with the boot with ten minutes left on the clock.

Dockers had further chances though could not take them and a dumb penalty on their own line gave the visitors the opportunity to take a penalty attempt which they duly scored to take the game to two scores and the clock against Dockers.

Full time score Hull Dockers 24, Moldgreen 32

From the teams perspective this was certainly a game they lost. “We had an absolutely fantastic start and we didn’t look like this was the first game after a long lay-off and if we had had a bit more composure we could have been 24 nil up at the break. Statistics don’t tell the full story though they had 60% of possession, made less errors and gave away far less penalties. Our second half completion rate was down to 50%. Moldgreen played well after they early blitz and they re-built in the first half when we took our foot of the gas. They were a little lucky with the score right on half time though with their opening to the second half they blew us away.

When they went 12 in front we rallied a little though we couldn’t keep the ball enough and they played smart when they had the opportunity killing the game off with kicks to touch and then the penalty. However, we should never have been in that position. This was defiantly a game where fitness and fatigue played their part and that was evident with the penalties, errors and some missed tackles.

Hopefully we will get some back to back games over the coming weeks and build our match fitness”.

Next up the 16’s travel to league leaders East Leeds