As the Hull FC coach, Lee Radford, embraced each of his players after a historic afternoon in the Lancashire sunshine, the celebrations perhaps told their own story. Hull have waited since last June – 13 games and 240 days, to be exact – to experience the euphoria and elation of victory: but no matter what happens next for Hull, few afternoons will be quite like this.
Anything other than victory here for Hull would have been tough for them to take, given the nature of how they put their bodies on the line for more than 80 gruelling minutes amid a backdrop of injuries and adversity. So when Oliver Gildart crossed to level the scores with seconds remaining, you wondered how Hull – and indeed Radford – would pick themselves up.
However, Zak Hardaker’s wayward conversion handed the Black and Whites a reprieve via the first viewing of golden point extra-time in Super League – and how they seized the opportunity. Within seconds of play restarting, Marc Sneyd’s drop goal secured that long-awaited victory, Hull’s first of 2019. “He’s the iceman,” Radford said of his scrum-half.
“I’m relieved for them, the players. We had no bench left at the end with injuries and if we’d come away with nothing from here after that effort … it’d have been tough.”
All the drama of golden point almost managed to overshadow the biggest pre-match talking point, too – the return of the former Great Britain and Hull captain Gareth Ellis from an 18-month retirement at the age of 37.
With injuries and suspension robbing Radford of his entire front row, Ellis answered Hull’s call with an impressive display in the pack. “It was a typical Gareth Ellis performance,” Radford said. “I’ve lent him my full body massager after that and if he pulls up OK, we’ll see about him playing next week.”
Hull were magnificent all afternoon, not least in establishing a half-time lead of four points after tries for Carlos Tuimavave, Joe Westerman and Ratu Naulago – the former Saracens winger who marked his rugby league debut with two tries. Wigan’s response came from Gildart and Liam Byrne – but this was a below-par performance from the champions, who have just one win from their first three games.
“There weren’t good signs throughout the match,” their coach, Adrian Lam, said.
Naulago’s second four minutes after half-time put Hull in a position of control, though as injuries began to bite, the visitors began to tire noticeably.
Wigan took advantage: first, Ben Flower charged over with 15 minutes remaining, before a period of sustained pressure yielded another Wigan try, this time for Gildart. But Hardaker could not break Hull hearts by kicking the conversion – and after eight months without a win, Sneyd’s drop goal in extra-time sealed victory.
Wigan Haradker; Davies, Gildart, Sarginson, Marshall; Williams, Leuluai; Bullock, Powell, Flower, Greenwood, Isa, O’Loughlin. Interchange Tautai, Byrne, Sammut, Hamlin.
Tries Gildart 2, Byrne, Flower. Goals Hardaker 3.
Hull Shaul; Naulago, Tuimavave, Griffin, Faraimo; Connor, Sneyd; Paea, Houghton, Matongo, Manu, Minichiello, Westerman. Interchange Ellis, Thompson, Lane, Litten.
Tries Tuimavave, Westerman, Naulago 2. Goals Sneyd 3. Drop goal Sneyd (81).
Referee B Thaler. Attendance 10,971.