It says much about the standards the Saxons are setting themselves this season that they left disappointed in the knowledge that they did the job but could have performed much better. They travelled without Rich Stott and James Rodley and rested both Hurrell brothers. This gave Chris Depper his first start in the 2nd row, with Gary Dipple returning from injury at outside centre. Pete White’s absence gave a bench position to Will Harris, where he was joined by Adam Sturdy.

After some nonedescript early exchanges a nicely judged Caolan Ryan kick bounced into touch in the Hull 22. Loose ball at the lineout was secured by the Saxons who put the Hull line under siege but were unable to penetrate a resolute defensive line and were eventually turned over. A free kick conceded at the lineout and then a penalty for not rolling away gave Hull the opportunity to open the scores but the kick flew wide and was booted back to halfway.

After some further midfield exchanges Hull’s backs moved the ball left and drew a penalty in the Saxons’ 22 for the tackler not releasing, compounded by a not 10m from a quick tap. Hull kicked to the corner but overthrew their jumpers, enabling ‘Edgie’s take to lift the siege. A Hull kick chase into the Saxons in-goal was comfortably covered by Ryan for a 22m dropout. The game entered a period where neither side was able to put an effective set of phases together, either turning the ball over or kicking it away as attacking options ran out against well organised defences, and it took until the 18th minute for the Saxons to force a penalty in Hull’s half as their left winger got isolated in the tackle. Ryan kicked to the corner and the Saxons set siege to the line again. They ran it left where a set of drives eventually sucked in enough defenders to allow Ryan to sneak over the line for an unconverted try. 20min, 0-5.

Hull tried to hit back with a penalty conceded for hands in the ruck but it went wide and the kicking contest from the dropout was won by Ryan when Hull knocked it on near halfway. Drives by Tom Jarvis and Drew Harper produced a penalty which was tapped quickly by Lucas Roy-Smith who found Edgie running a good attacking angle near the Hull 22, the defence was flatfooted and he scored a converted try. 27min 0-12.

A couple of minutes and a few exchanged kicks later Hull coughed up an offside penalty in defence that Ryan again opted to kick to the corner. It was moved left where Sione Tu’ipolotu straightened the line but was held up just short. He had pulled in defenders though so a long cutout pass found Jamie Hearn unmarked wide left where he scored an unconverted try. 31min 0-17.

The Saxons were then guilty of taking their foot off the gas, Hull’s no.8 managing to break the defensive line following a kick exchange. He moved it left where his centre and fullback linked nicely for a converted try. 34min 7-17. Worse was to follow as the restart failed to go 10m and Hull secured a lineout in the Saxons’ 22. They moved the ball infield where the attack looked to have been contained but a narrow drive wrongfooted a flat defence and resulted in a converted try for the home flanker. Half time 14-17 and suddenly rather too close for comfort.

The Saxons made a more purposeful start to the 2nd half, securing a lineout in the Hull 22 almost immediately. The drive drew a penalty which they chose to scrum, the hosts’ pack disintegrating under pressure but coughing up only a penalty as the Saxons couldn’t convert the advantage call. They opted for another scrum but coughed up the ball, enabling Hull to recover and clear their lines. Possession was secured at the subsequent lineout though and driven a couple of phases right before Tom Jarvis was able to chip over the top of the advancing defensive line. A favourable bounce enabled him to score close enough to the posts for Ryan to convert, 46min 14-24 and the try bonus point in the bag.

Hull hit back with a penalty before the game went scrappy again, neither side able to sustain possession or territory long enough to turn the screw. Hull again overthrew their jumpers on the Saxons’ 10m, the ball moved quickly to Tu’ipolotu whose offload put Dipple clean through but was adjudged forward. With the bulk of Sturdy introduced at loosehead the Saxons drive turned over the Hull scrum enabling Tu’ipolotu to break clear, offloading to Edgie in support who found Nathan Bressington running unmarked wide right for another converted try. 62min 17-31.

Hull were now running the ball from anywhere and got isolated at the tackle in their midfield but Ryan’s corner kick was overcooked and went into touch-in-goal. Will Harris came on at scrum half and put Bressington into space with turnover ball that was unfortunately called forward. Hull were free-kicked at the scrum though and a Harper drive fed Nigel Mukarati who broke the line and linked with Ben Hughes who was held up just short. An unplayable provided the Saxons an attacking 5m scrum from which Harris scampered over for his first try, Ryan’s conversion attempt denied by the woodwork. 73min 17-36.

The Saxons secured the restart and kicked for position but Hull ran it back and laid siege to the Saxons’ line where a couple of penalties and a killed advantage resulted in a yellow card for Nick Adams. Hull tapped the penalty and went wide left where their winger scored in the corner. 76min 22-36.

The Saxons secured the restart, Sam Baker finding touch just short of the Hull line, but they ran it again from deep and a frantic passage of play featuring several turnovers ended with a last-gasp Harris tackle denying Hull’s tighthead prop who had been put clear. Final score 22-36.

Commenting on the performance, coach Mike Umaga observed ‘We keep saying job done, and of course we’ll take the 5 points, but we can’t be happy with our performance today. As a squad we talked about structure in our game but it was lacking, and that’s something for which the players have to take responsibility. On the positive side we’ve coped without some experienced guys and their replacements will have learned a lot today, Will Harris especially made a big impact when he came on’.