Hornets 48
Saddleworth 6
More revealing photos
Hornets Through
Defence the difference as Hornets see off Saddleworth
Darren Abram described the early stages of this Hornets win as 'low key'. And he was right. Hornets did sputter and fail to fire in the first 40 minutes, but eventually ran out comfortable winners, ramming 30 unanswered points through a hardworking Saddleworth.
The true tale of this game, though, lies in a key defensive statistic: Hornets were the only team in the whole round not to concede a try against amateur opposition. And that's got to be pretty satisfying for all concerned.
However, Hornets started shockingly; dropping the kick off and putting themselves under unnecessary pressure. Having ridden out Saddleworth's early onslaught, Hornets marched downfield where stand-in full back Gary Hulse found space to score.
Rangers' excellent stand-off Mick Coates accepted a couple of generous penalties and for the next 20 minutes, Hornets came up with a raft of new and interesting ways to hand posession to the visitors. Aided and abetted by referee Merrick's excessively picky application of some of the lesser used laws, the game bore a remarkable resemblance to a stodgy mess.
With the half ebbing away, Hornets did find two moments of lucid football to create tries for Phil Hasty and Paul Anderson. Rangers' only other contribution was a third penalty from Coates. Half time 16-6.
The second half was significantly better on all fronts. Hornets looked to move the ball across the line at every opportunity and hit the gain line with determination. Stretching the visitors' defence paid dividends. Kev King grabbed two tries, Hasty added another Wayne Corcoran rushed in for a no-nonsense score by the posts and John Gledhill capped an impressive show off the bench with a late try.
It was a good afternoon too for Kev King who notched up a personal tally of 20 points.
Late in the game, play was held up for a couple of minutes while a streaker wearing nothing but a white wooly hat ran the length of the field to dive in under the posts at the Pearl St end.
At the hooter, the vistitors received a warm ovation for a valiant effort. Saddleworth kept plugging away all afternoon with no reward. Despite the best efforts of their impressive half back partnership of Coates and Garforth, they were met by stern Hornets defence. And, while this wasn't a pretty win by any means, Hornets did what was expected and kept a 'clean sheet' in the process.
Which can't be all that bad.
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