Saracens 29

Ionians 10

SARACENS retained their place at the head of the Yorkshire second team Merit table with a hard earned win over a lively Hull side.

Gary Cassidy was a late withdrawal and Martin Hainsworth moved to scrum-half with Mark Kirkby in the centre and Richard Leighton on the wing. The kick-off was delayed as the visitors were held up in traffic and this together with the heavy conditions seemed to affect Saracens, who were strangely lethargic when the game eventually got under way.

The game was littered with errors and tended to be increasingly niggly and as a result after 30 minutes the scores were level at 10-10, Saracens having scored tries through Mark Kirkby and Ian Judson, Hull replying with a converted try and a penalty. As half-time approached Saracens started to get their game together. The pack had a good drive before releasing and quick handling got the ball to Jonathan Bennett, who is in good form at the moment, and he ran strongly to score and the Chris Quinn conversion made it 17-10 at half-time.

The Saracens' pack started to get on top on the restart with Paul Williams winning good line-out ball and the forwards setting up a number of great drives. Keeping the pressure on, Otley extended the lead with Dean Hardcastle and Matt Lonsdale driving over from close in, Chris Quinn adding one conversion.

In the final quarter Saracens lost Jonathan Bennett with a leg injury and Martin Hainsworth, who suffered a head injury from a stiff arm tackle which produced a yellow card for the Hull player involved. As a result this disrupted Saracens and Hull finished strongly but the defence was sound and they held out in the closing minutes to record their sixth win on the trot.

In a good team performance the back row of Ian Judson, Neil Hargreaves and skipper Richard Midgeley got through a lot of work.

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