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Cents Bow Out Of Challenge Cup 04.02.08

St. Albans Centurions 16 v 42 Hull Dockers

It was a match too soon at Colney Heath on Sunday when St. Albans Centurions were knocked out of the Rugby League Challenge Cup by the much more experienced Hull Dockers. On a bitterly cold afternoon, the Cents were playing their first competitive match in five months and their inevitable lack of match practice and fitness proved too big a handicap.

From the kick off, Hull Dockers made their intentions clear with a series of storming, powerful runs and it was unfortunate that after only four minutes, centre Oli Fountain had to leave the field for twenty minutes with a badly cut eye, sustained in his first tackle. A minute later Hull were 6 - 0 up when prop forward Craig Henry burst through to score after St. Albans had conceded a penalty on their own line. The Cents had been on the back foot from the off and it wasn’t until ten minutes into the game that they managed to break into the Hull half, only for International prop Andy Lake to suffer a knee injury in the tackle, ruling him out of the rest of the match.

A clever chip through from Hull hooker, Musgrave, caught the St. Albans defence napping and full back, Kristian Birch, gathered the ball to score under the posts. When Chris Stephenson converted to make it 12 - 0, the afternoon was starting to look ominous for the Centurions. But somehow they managed to weather the storm. First a try saving tackle from Chris True and then a burst upfield from Andy Weldon gave the St. Albans side some encouragement. They were also helped by mistakes from the Hull side, who dropped the ball with the line begging on a couple of occasions.

On twenty five minutes, very much against the run of play, St. Albans got on the score sheet when Dan Wortley kicked through, gathered and slipped the ball to Russ Kellaway to make it 12 - 4. And gradually the Centurions were getting back into it. Hull conceded three penalties in quick succession and with surging runs from Paul Maloney and Jon Warner, things were beginning to look a little less bleak for the home side.
The start of the second half was all St. Albans. First Lewis Padmore, who had a fine game, powered through. Dan Wortley forced a Hull drop out and Paul Maloney on a trademark run broke through to slip the ball to debutant, Joe Brace. Brace twisted in the tackle to score his first try for the club. Craig Foster’s kick made it 12 - 10 and after fifty minutes the Cents were back in the game. Or so it seemed.

Sadly, the comeback didn’t last as Hull Dockers scored three tries in quick succession through Henry, Pickering and Batty, all converted by the excellent Stephenson to put the Hull side out of sight at 30 - 10. The Cents were now looking very tired and fatigue meant that they weren’t coming up in a defensive line as strongly as they might. All the Hull passes were now sticking and further tries by Sellars and Brewer made it 42 - 10. There was a late consolation try for St. Albans scrum half, Kristian Warner, converted by Foster but the afternoon belonged to Hull Dockers.

Team: Foster, True, Fountain, Kellaway, Milsom, Rampling, K.Warner, Lake, Cox, J.Warner, Maloney, Padmore, Wortley, Weldon, Brace, Chapman. (Mike Walling)