For the people of Hull, this is the most eagerly anticipated fixture of the season, the one that they always look for when the fixture lists are published.
There was devastating news prior to kick-off for the home side when both Danny McGuire and Shaun Lunt failed fitness tests which meant that they would be missing for the home side. The opposite was true for the Black & Whites with skipper Danny Houghton back for FC.
The stage at Craven Park was set for a battle royal as seventh played ninth for a city’s bragging rights, the watching twelve thousand wouldn't be disappointed.
It took just two minutes for the Airlie Birds to open the scoring. When Mickey Paea went for the line he had the ball stripped into goal and Danny Houghton evaded the KR defenders to get a hand on the ball before it hit the dead ball line. Referee Kendall sent the decision to the video referee as a NO TRY but was over-ruled. Marc Sneyd added the extras for a 6-0 start.
On nine minutes a shoulder charge to the head from Bureta Faraimo saw the Hull winger sent off, leaving his side down a man for seventy minutes in the Hull derby. It took three minutes for KR to make the extra man count when Thomas Minns executed a brilliant one-two with Matty Marsh to scamper over. Ryan Shaw added the conversion from wide.
Sneyd kicked a 40-20 on twenty-three but the KR defence held strong to keep FC away from the line. Four minutes later and Fetuli Talanoa had space to go down the wing off a Jamie Shaul pass to ground in the corner, millimetres before going into touch. Sneyd added the conversion for a 12-6 advantage.
Two minutes later and Shaul took a pass from Carlos Tuimavave to run thirty metres to score under the sticks and give Sneyd his easiest conversion of the afternoon.
Minns got his second of the game on thirty-four when he took an inside pass from Justin Carney to drop on the line for a close range try. Shaw added the extra two and the margin was back to six points.
A minute before the break Talanoa got his second when he took a long Shaul pass on the left wing to go over in the corner. Sneyd was wide with the conversion attempt but he joined his side heading for the changing rooms with a 22-12 lead.
The first try of the second half went the way of KR when Adam Quinlan broke the FC line and could have gone on his own but selflessly passed to Marsh to go over by the corner flag and improve the angle. Shaw was unable to add the extras but the Robins were back within six.
A penalty on fifty-five saw Sneyd point to the uprights but he pushed his kick wide. It was an indication as to how close both sides thought it would be.
On fifty-seven Jake Connor found an acre of space wide right off an Albert Kelly pass to sprint thirty metres down the touchline and score in the corner. Sneyd added the extras for 28-16.
Sneyd added a penalty on sixty-five after a high tackle giving KR the uphill task of scoring three times to grab a win.
Thomas Minns would just not be tackled on sixty-seven when he took a pass ten metres from the line and pushed his way over to score and complete his hat-trick. Shaw added the extras for 22-30.
KR had opportunities to narrow the margin further, but some poor choices on the last plays frustrated the home supporters and hand the Airlie Birds the crucial derby victory which lifts FC into fourth, albeit until the remainder of the Good Friday programme gets completed.
It was a bad tempered affair, not helped by the early sending off of Faraimo, and referee Kendall had his work cut out trying to keep the sides from attacking one another at every possible excuse of an opportunity. It was the twelve men in Black and White who dug deep and made the most of their twelve men to take a good victory and the bragging rights back to the west of the city.
KR: Quinlan, Shaw (3G), Salter, Minns (3T), Carney, Marsh (T), Atkin, Jewitt, Lee, Masoe, Greenwood, Blair, Kavanagh. Subs: Scruton, Donaldson, Clarkson, Dagger.
FC: Shaul (T), Faraimo (SO on 9), Griffin, Tuimavave, Talanoa (2T), Kelly, Sneyd (5G), Taylor, Houghton (T), Paea, Minichiello, Lane, Green. Subs: Bowden, Connor (T), Matongo, Washbrook.
Referee: Chris Kendall.
Half-Time: 12-22.
Full-Time: 22-30.
Attendance: 12,090.
