Match Report: Hull Dockers v Midlands Hurricanes (AWAY)

A trip to amateur club Orrell St James awaits the Hurricanes in Round Three of the Betfred Challenge Cup , a reward for a clinical 50-4 demolition of the Hull Dockers in Round Two

Rookie wing Callum Dunne on his pro debut weighed in with two tries , Liam Welham marked his two hundredth game with a try, with Ben Stead also reaching a century of frst team appearances on a day to remember at Craven Park , the home of Hulll KR .

‘A professional performance’ was the verdict of Canes Head Coach Richard Squires ‘ We looked good in a lot of areas . Really well played by our boys , we put some good stuff on and stuck to the job in hand’ .

Prop Matt Bailey gave the Hurricanes a dream start ,only three minutes in ,taking a short Wilkinson ball as well a Dockers defender over the try line for his maiden score in Midlands colours . Stead easily adding the extras with the first of his seven goals of the afternoon.

Worse was to follow for the home side , with two Canes tries in quick succession . The ball was fired cross the Canes attacking line right to left with  Wilkinson and Hallett combining superbly to give Elliot Wallis a simple walk in at the corner . With the match clock on fourteen minutes , Dunne scored his first , a try made by Canes Man of the Match Matty Welham acrobatically rising above onrushing defence to pluck a pinpoint kick from Stead out of the air and feed his winger Dunne , who finished the move off with a flourish rounding his opposite number to go in on the right hand corner .

Stung by the Hurricanes whirlwind start to the game , with former pros Louis Sheriff and Matty Beharell in their ranks as well as former Hurricane Dave Scott and with a large partizan crowd in support , the home side began to settle into the game , a fact not not lost on Richard Squires ‘ ‘After about fifteen minutes we kind of dropped off , Dockerd upped their intensity , found their front and began to trouble us a bit , with some little offloads and we had to scramble really well’ ‘ he commented afterwards .

It was the half back partnership of Beharell and Scott brought the amateurs their only points of the afternoon on twenty three minutes, they combined to find the smallest  chink in an otherwise rock solid Midlands defence , putting Chris Heil into a gap for an unconverted try , much to the delight of their supporters that included a impressive number of the Clubs players from its Community Youth teams in attendance.

The workrate of Midlands sub Jack Dawson was hailed as ‘tremendous’ by Coach Squires and along with fellow forwards Moran ,Clavering Cullimore and Bowring kept the pressure on the Dockers , not allowing them a chance to increase their points tally and the final points of the first forty went the way of the visitors , interference in the tackle gave Ben Stead the opportunity to add a penalty on the hooter and give the Midlands a 16-4 advantage.

Half Time Hull Dockers  6 Midlands Hurricanes 14

The introduction of Elliot Windley from the bench seem to spark the Hurricanes attack back into gear and he engineered the Canes first try of the second 40 , with his quick play the ball leaving Dockers short on defence ,allowing Matty Welham to weigh in with his first of the day regathering his own kick through to score within four minutes of the restart .

Hooker Windley was heavily  involved in the Hurricanes next score , straight from the Dockers restart , .They risked a short restart but Canes half back Wilkinson dribbled the ball football style to regather he found the supporting Windley who fed Bailey Dawson a peach of a pass to score out on the left .

A further Hurricanes score came for Macaully Hallett , a simple run in after more precision link up play between Windley and Wilkinson on the Midlands left edge brought in full back Nathan Hill into the line and he supplied the final pass for Hallett’s four pointer .

Looking at a 28 point deficit on the scoreboard , things got worse for the Hull side , reduced to twelve men after Dave Bade’s sin binning , after a fracas involving both sets of players , the only disappointment in a game played in an excellent spirit throughout .

With the Hurricanes now in total control , Liam Welham wrestled his way over to mark his 200th league appearance with his 77th career try and his brother Matty scored his second of the afternoon , taking a defence splitting ball from Stead that left a clear run to the line .

With only minutes Dunne got his second , another cheeky flick pass from Matty Welham, reminiscent of the final try a week previously against Cornwall , making the space for the winger to cross on the corner flag . Stead completed his afternoon nailing the conversion from the touchline and the Hurricanes Challenge Cup run continues apace into Round Three .

Full Time Hull Dockers 4 Midlands Hurricanes 50

Hurricanes - Hill, Wallis, Hallett, M Welham, Dunne, Stead ,Wilkinson, Moran, Cullimore, Bailey L Welham, B Dawson,Clavering Subs Windley, J Dawson, Gilbey, Bowring 18th Man Beer

Tries Bailey, Hallett, Wallis, M Welham (2), B Dawson, Dunne (2)

Goals Stead 7/10

Player of the match - Matt Welham