Stags (2nds) 32 vs Hull Ionian’s 24
Scunthorpe stags were hosts to Hull Ionian 2nd XV on which turned out to be a sunny afternoon. A minute silence to pay tribute to a great clubman and friend to all Lee Hinchcliffe was held prior to kick off.
The stags started off firing with a quick pick and go over a 40metre sprint saw Elliot Saltmarsh score near the sticks. Converted by Henry Dawson to make it 7-0.
Hull held possession in their own half till a crunching tackle from Will Harrison saw the ball dislodged which was fed down the counter attacking line into the hands of Tom Stephens who slid in for the stags second of the afternoon, conversion missed 12-0.
Ionians awarded a penalty which was kicked to corner and a strong maul saw them over the white wash for their first try. 12-5.
In an end to end game the stags found themselves with a penalty near the ionians 5metre line, with a well executed maul Saltmarsh grabbed his second of the afternoon, conversion by Dawson 19-5 then closely after half time was called.
The stags were caught napping minutes into the second half with Ionians taking a quick tap penalty and scoring, missing the conversion. In quick succession the Ionians backs linked well to score and convert with fluent hands from their own 22, closing the gap to 19-17.
However the stags executed a great line out inside the Ionians 22 with a quickly accelerating maul resulting in a try for Cam Christer. The stags then found momentum and phases with some great link up between Harrison, Rudkin and Stephens seeing the latter slide in for his second of the afternoon, 29-17.
The greens kept up the momentum gaining all the way to the Ionians 5metre line however a well intercepted pass from Dawson saw the Ionians 15 sprint the length of the pitch to touch down completely against the run of play. Conversion good making the game 29-24.
The stags knew they had to see the game out chasing down the restart and earning a penalty just outside the Ionians 22 metre, which was converted by Henry Dawson to leave the score at 32-24 to the stags.
The game was seen out by the stags in a good win against a well drilled Ionians team. Well played to all.
Match Report by Billy Hardy.
