Ionians hold out after late fright

By MALCOLM KNOWLES

Hull Ionians…………41

Sheffield………………30

Hull Ionians ran out winners, outscoring Sheffield by seven tries to five.

But a late flourish from the visitors, bringing them three tries, not only earned them a bonus point but had spectators wondering what might have been, had the game run on for a further five minutes.

In the first half, the sides traded scores, after some woeful tackling, for Ionians to lead at the break 17-15.

But there was also some excellent handling leading up to all of the five tries, one each for Elliot Fisher and Will Smith for Sheffield, with Ionians replying through Sam Wilson, Cameron Burnhill and Tom Bullough.

Ionians tightened up markedly in the second half and built up a comfortable lead with further scores from Lewis Minikin (an absolute peach of a solo run), Wilson with a second try, Declan Thompson and Chris Morton.

The visitors kept ball in hand as they attacked what seemed an impenetrable home defence.

But just as it had held sound for over 30 minutes, it dispersed to virtually nothing in the final five minutes and Sheffield took full advantage to add three late tries, with Sam Graham, Archie Crapper and Ryan Burrows all crossing the line.