Having raced into a 26-5 lead with the bonus point secured the visitors eased off, perhaps still feeling the effects of their exertions the previous week. This wasn't wise against a Hull side with several dangerous strike runners and nothing to lose, they responded by turning over some sloppy Saxons’ 2nd half set piece play and proceeded to throw the ball around. A disaster loomed as they clawed the lead back to just 2 points with less than 10 minutes to go, it would have been worse had their kicker not hit the woodwork with 2 conversion attempts, but the Saxons finally arose from their slumbers to secure a rare 2nd half foothold in Hull territory to enable them to secure the victory.

The Saxons were into their stride early, a Pete White tapped penalty in Hull’s 22 worked to captain Robbie Hurrell who shrugged off some ineffective tackling to score under the posts. Hull attempted to run their next possession but a loose pass was hacked downfield by fellow 2nd rower Nile Dacres who won the footrace to ground the ball for a try.

The Saxons continued to press the attack with the wind advantage & Stef Shillingford’s chase of a White chip over the defence paid dividends when the defence knocked it on and he seized the loose ball to score in the corner, Jamie Hearn landed a difficult conversion to stretch the lead to 19 points in even time.

Some loose Saxons’ touch kicking gifted open-space ball to Hull who countered at pace and were rewarded when flanker Rob Devonshire went though some pretty innocuous tackle attempts to open the hosts’ account on the scoreboard, At the time it seemed of little consequence when outside half James Cameron’s conversion attempt rebounded off an upright. The Saxon’s hit back with a bonus point try shortly after though when a Drew Harper break from the base of the scrum drew in defenders allowing White to outpace the cover. Hearn’s conversion made it 26-5.

Hull were having none of it though and worked their next possession well through multiple phases to put 2nd row Phil Murphy over for a score as the Saxons’ defence appeared uncharacteristically stretched. Cameron found the woodwork again from a straightforward conversion attempt and half time beckoned at 10-26, the Saxons still with work to do to hold their lead into a stiffening breeze.

The 2nd half started promisingly enough, the alert Eji Uzoigwe poaching loose ball at the base of Hull’s scrum to set up an attack that eventually saw Dacres worked through a gap in the defences before feeding the unmarked White for his 2nd try. The wind pushed Hearn’s conversion attempt wide and was to prove key for the remainder of the game as Hull looked to use it with deep touchfinders that pinned the Saxons in their own half. They tried to run it from the shadow of their own posts on their next possession but a loose pass in the backline was gratefully seized by winger Alex Piercy who simply dropped on the ball to score.

A trickle of Saxons replacements started to arrive on the field but were unable to hold out Hull’s left winger Jessie Bright who then broke through to record only the 3rd try bonus point secured against the Saxons all season.

When Hull loosehead Joe Stafford then crashed over in the corner the alarm bells were ringing loud as what had seemed an unassailable lead was closed to a very uncomfortable 2 points, all the momentum with the hosts with the thick end of 10min remaining and the Saxons having barely set foot in the Hull half for a good half hour.

They dug deep though and worked their way into Hull’s 22 where a set of phases drew several penalty offences, the last of which saw home no.8 Oliver Cook sinbinned for a cynical offside offence. The Saxons spurned a couple of 3 point options and had to win the ball back following a knock on, but eventually centre Ben Barkley worked enough of a gap for partner Shillingford to crash over near the posts. Final score 38-29.

With Macclesfield & Darlington Mowden Park also securing bonus point victories at home the title race looks likely to go to the final fixtures on Apr 26th.