Amateur RU: Johnson penalty for Huddersfield seals valuable draw at Hull

Hull 20

Huddersfield RU 20

(National II North)

A CHRIS JOHNSON penalty three minutes from time sealed a valuable two points from a fighting draw at sixth-placed Hull in their latest National II North run-out.

Against a massive pack, Johnson struck first when he landed a 25m penalty in the first five minutes, only for Hull to respond moments later when Laurence Pearce beat three defender before off-loading to Alex Piercy to finish from 10 metres.

Although James Cameron missed the conversion, he made amends with a mid-range penalty three minutes later as Hull continued to pressure Huddersfield with a high tempo.

But when intense showers hit it disrupted the flow of the game and Johnson put his side ahead again when Mark Whitehead booted on a loose ball and the fly-half won the race to the ball, sliding almost 10 yards over the line for the score, to which he also added the conversion for a 10-8 half-time lead.

And Huddersfield’s took a major stride forward early in the second half, when centre Matt Clarke finished a long solo run from inside his own half. He beat two or three tacklers and then side-stepped the full-back from a brilliant individual try to put the visitors nine points ahead with Johnson’s conversion.

However, Clarke’s score seemed to shock Hull into action, and after good work from the pack Piercy scored his second try following an overlap on the left wing with 20 minutes to go, Cameron converting to bring it back to a two-point game at 17-15.

And then with just three minutes remaining, captain Chris Murphy put Hull in front when he finished a strong push from the pack.

However, with almost the last kick of the game Johnson nailed a superb penalty from halfway after Hull were penalised for an illegal tackle, to seal the draw.

“I’ll settle for the two points away at Hull, although I was a bit disappointed we couldn’t hold on for the win when we were 17-8 up with 20 minutes to play,” said coach Mark Sowerby.

“But overall it was another good performance and sets us up nicely for the next few matches, starting with Saturday’s clash at Lockwood Park with Kendal.”