Yahoo Finance Jake Mamo’s late try salvages draw for Warrington at Hull FC
Hull FC and Warrington played out the first draw of the Super League season, with the hosts preserving their unbeaten start under Brett Hodgson after neither side were able to strike the decisive blow in golden point extra time.
Hull looked well-placed to record a third successive league win under Hodgson, until Jake Mamo’s try with seconds remaining, coupled with Gareth Widdop’s conversion, sent the game into extra time. Golden point was somewhat farcical, albeit entertaining, with nine missed drop goal attempts in the 10 minutes of play, ensuring the scores remained level and both sides earned a deserved point.
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The fact Super League players are forced to go through another 10 minutes to try to grind out a victor, then declare a draw if necessary, has attracted plenty of criticism in the past, and this was certainly fuel for that particular fire. Neither side deserved to be beaten here, in truth, so a point apiece certainly felt like a fair outcome.
“It’s a little bit underwhelming, not getting the result,” Hodgson said. “We’ll take the point because we’d have been disappointed if we’d lost.”
Mamo’s try sent the game into extra time after the Wolves fought back from behind for the third time in the game. Following a try-less first half in which Stefan Ratchford and Marc Sneyd exchanged penalties in the only scoring of the opening 40 minutes, a wonderful break from Jordan Lane shortly after half-time led to the deadlock being broken, with Jake Connor touching down and Sneyd converting to make it 8-2.
Leeds started the 2021 Women's Super League season in style with a 68-16 victory over York City Knights.
The Rhinos enjoyed Grand Final and Challenge Cup success in 2019, but Covid-19 denied them the chance to defend their titles in 2020.
York led 10-4 early on and played their part with tries from captain Katie Langan and Ellie Hendry (2).
But the Rhinos were 24-10 ahead by half-time and eventually scored 13 tries through Courtney Winfield-Hill (2), Adi Akwiwu (2), Elle Frain (2), Ellie Oldroyd, Chloe Kerrigan, Hanna Butcher, Sophie Robinson, Ella Johnson, Aimee Staveley and Tara Moxon. Winfield-Hill kicked 16 points.
St Helens signalled their intent with an 86-0 rout of Bradford.
The Saints led 52-0 at the break and scored 15 tries with Jodie Cunningham, Amy Hardcastle and Carrie Roberts all claiming hat-tricks.
Emily Rudge and Danielle Bush went over twice each, while Faye Gaskin and Chantelle Crowl also crossed.
England international Georgia Wilson scored five tries as Wigan ran in 11 in total during a 52-8 demolition of Warrington.
Wilson crossed four times before the break as the Warriors raced into a 28-4 interval lead.
Vanessa Temple and Vicky Molyneux bagged a brace apiece and Rachel Thompson and Becky Greenfield also scored against opponents making their Super League debut.
Kelsey Gentles claimed a first-half hat-trick as Castleford recorded a convincing 40-6 victory over Featherstone Rovers, their first success since Kirsty Maroney and Marie Colley took charge.
Gentles scored two tries in the first five minutes and added a third on the half-hour after Tamzin Renouf had got in on the act.
Hollie-Mae Dodd (2) and Grace Field added further tries with Leah Jones kicking 12 points.
However, Warrington responded when Daryl Clark’s superb offload led to Chris Hill scoring under the posts before another great break from Lane led to Hull’s second try, this time with Carlos Tuimavave the beneficiary to score in the corner. But just as Hull looked as though they would hold on, Mamo cut through to score and send the game into extra time.
Golden point bordered between dramatic and farcical, though. During the added period, Sneyd and Blake Austin missed on numerous occasions, with Connor and Widdop also skewing attempts wide in a desperate attempt to win the game. That meant that the points were shared: an outcome that would have been fair without extra time. “It had everything, didn’t it,” Warrington’s coach, Steve Price, said. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game, and I thought we could have executed better in the end.”
