Thought we did very well considering it was out first game. I thought Gale prompted well and his kicking was a major plus. Olbison and Donaldson had good games, it was pleasing to see Olbison take so much tackling and Donaldson seems to have developed an offload.

We seemed to lose cohesion in the second half when we mainly had the kids on but that's to be expected.

Very positive performance. Gale looked a different player from last year. Carvell is a beast who once the likes of Sammut learn to follow him they will get many tries. Very impressed with Gaskell. Why weren't the subs announced? Who was wearing the 20 shirt? He looked very promising

Re the spectator, we were at the back of the stand and could overhear the St Johns Ambulance radio conversations which were reporting that the gentleman had suffered a stroke, so thoughts are with him and his family.

Good to hear Gale had a good game. Maybe the competition with Gaskell and Sammut will make him realise his position is under threat. Hopefully he will be more consistent this year.

The 20 was Adam Brook, our half from the under 19s. At first I assumed he was one of the Wire kids on loan, but was pleased to find out that he's one of our own.
He made a great break in the 2nd half and showed some good pace. Very small though, but certainly one to keep an eye on.

Good afternoon out that, its so good to be able to talk out rugby rather than money or structures for a change.

I agree with what people have said about it being a good hit out, I was especially pleased with some of the effort and desire shown to defend the line. There were a few times when it wouldn't have been a surprise to see Hull go over at the end of another back to back set, but we showed a commendable desire to defend the goal line.

Gale, gaskell, carvell, kear and henry stood out for me with excellent performances. In the second half our bench that got on looked a lot smaller than theirs and they capitalised at the end, But the scoreline doesn't really matter either way - what I took from the afternoon was that if we can keep that 1st team together we have a very good chance of not ending in the bottom 2 like many have predicted, we're not going to need an extension to the trophy cabinet anytime soon, but we have the basis of a useful side that could surprise a few.

And Odsal is still bloody cold, when the sun dipped below the stand opposite the temp dropped ridiculously!

Not easy to guess the crowd when you are all in the same side, but I would think several thousand. more importantly the team served up some good rugby so hopefully word will get around that we have a team who could well surprise some people this year and be more than competitive - excellent defemnsive work in the 1st half - and who knows why Sammut's pass in the move near the end was called forward.

you did notice hull had at least 9 or 10 first choice players not playing didnt you!?

after 20-30 minutes our main players were substituted for fringe players, our number 4 along with numbers 12 and 17 were drafted in from the u19s, we had one fit winger in lineham who we lost due to a bulls player sliding in with his knees as he scored a try that was wrongly chalked off!

as for the bulls, you looked good and defended excellent, holding hull players over the line atleast 4 times and another two cut out passes that were palmed into touch or knocked forward to stop certain tries, you have a settled 6 and 7 which helped a lot! yet saying that you only looked like scoring twice in the second half, one that you did straight from the kick off!

as for the sammut pass, if it wasnt forward it would have been a great try, but i was corrrectly called forward

Yes, well aware who you were missing. Just commenting on the team you put out. Don't worry we had first team players missing too and played 75 minutes of the game with only 3 props.
Lineham's try was chalked off for a forward pass, and it was the correct decision. Sammut's pass was also forward and was correctly ruled as such.

Hull will be fine next season once their overseas players bed in. It's just that today, you weren't very good.

Thought the first half was quite impressive for first run out for a few month.Very impressed with defence.When all main players were on I thought we looked good,as more changes were made in the second half the game changed a bit but that's only expected.Sammut looked very lively and I thought Gale played well,seemed that but quicker and wanted to go forward more with ball in hand.Carvell knows how to offload,Sammut will have a field day following him this season,as long as he doesn't follow him to another club.No more financial dramas and good luck with injuries and I think we will go well

Just to give us a sense of perspective who was actually missing from hulls strongest 17?. We were missing Kearney, diskin, ferguson and Blythe who would be in our starting 13. Obvious misses for hull were rankin, talanou, houghton and Biggs. Who else was missing?

Yeamo,Tuson,mcdonnell,watts,heremia,few others.

Tala out only arrived today...Biggs won't be 1st team and Rankin came on as sub and scored.we had McDonnell,Yeaman,Watts,Houghton,Heremia,Tuson,Whiting all missing who are 1st team players and will improve us......we may have been garbage as 1fan said we was but that's the point of friendliest,to get it out of the system and ahit up,besides...no points on offer and you don't win now for friendlys

You definitely missed Houghton and Heremaia today, your hooker today looked out of his depth tbh.
Do you reckon McDonnell will be your first choice fullback then? Seems a bit harsh on Shaul who stood out for you guys today and looked more than capable last season.

Cunningham has been bigged up in the u-19s but when I have seen him play for them,he hasn't impressed me at all.Good point about the full backs..position,personally I would go with McDonnell as our 1st choice as he is more complete player but Shaul is a exciting player but just needs to fine tune his game...he may end up on wing until Talona? Is ready

The St John Ambulance member as broken the patients confidentiality by allowing you to hear that. and you have compounded it by typing it into a public forum, anyone knowing him and reading this forum now knows the diagnosis or miss diagnosis and the patient and their family may not want this to be public knowledge. BTW its St John Ambulance in the singular.

I only caught the second half on BCB (who themselves were very rusty) but they made notable mention to a couple of long range breaks made by Saltonstall only for inexperience to either take the tackle or kick through for Henry.

How did he seem to get on? And would he be worth a proper loan deal?

I've seen no mention of why George was left from the squad after being named, does anyone have any info?

I read on twitter that the easiets position to win the GF from is 11th, so it's obvious no-one is going to try until the last couple of weeks. Wood should resign now.

It wasn't Saltonstall that made the break and kicked ahead, it was Adam Brook.

Yeah it was definitely Brook. Saltonstall did make a break, but didn't kick the ball, he was tackled.

I didn't make yesterday as I was in Scotland but it sounds a very handy run out. A few mentions for Brook which probably means he's packing his shorts and booking flights to Sydney as I type.

In all seriousness, even accounting for the financial issues I haven't felt as optimistic about the direction the squad/coach is taking in many a year. Hopefully we can build to some good walk up numbers and allow this new board to really get behind Cummins.

I know forums are the spiritual home of hyperbole, but I still think it's both disrespectful (of both teams) and way off the mark to describe Hull as "utter garbage". Circumstances led to them being pegged back repeatedly by a combination of clever attacking play, a dominant pack, and maintained excellent kicking. Despite the pressure, and their weakened side which was clearly undercooked, they didn't let in many soft tries, I thought most of the Bulls tries were creditable and well worked efforts. I did not see anyone shirking in the Hull defence, and despite being hammered, they kept going the full 80 and were rewarded with three tries.

Their "utter garbage" also got them across our line on a large number of occasions, only to be held up, pushed back or repelled.

Who did you have out ??

As the Hull fans sat near me seemed to think you only had 3-4 1st squad players out and another one whcih was due to land from Oz or wherever this week ??

Just out of interest as didnt look full strength

If Superleague started tomorrow, everyone was available, and I had to pick the team, I would go with:

McDonnell (although you could make a very good argument for Shaul)
Lineham
Crooks
Yeaman
Talanoa
Rankin
Miller
Paea
Houghton
Green
Ellis
Tuson
Westerman

Whiting
Heremaia
Feka
Watts

8 of those didn't play at all, and Rankin only arrived last week so came on at half time.

Don't forget the injury to Lineham meant a back line reshuffle that left us with Stark (u19's and doesn't have a squad number), Crooks (playing out of position on the wing), Thompson (out of position at centre), and Arundel (in position but probably not 1st choice).

Just to point out, Thompson is not out of position at centre. He's played there loads for Cas.

But regardless, it's a friendly. It means very little in the scheme of things. As a Bulls fan, I won't get too excited with the win, just like Hull fans shouldn't be too disheartened by it. The idea of friendlies are to try things out and get players some match fitness, all the while not risking people who aren't 100%.

Both teams had players missing. Both first choice hookers, both first choice fullbacks.

Hull made a lot of mistakes, but better to make them in friendlies than in League games. Similarly Bulls made a few mistakes with passes, but it's all about getting the timing right.

Don't see the need for everyone to make so much of it to be honest. Bulls fans be encouraged by all means. Hull fans realise there's a bit to work on, yes. But let's not pretend that it's much more than that. It doesn't by any stretch mean that Bulls are a superior team to Hull once the league begins, nor does it mean they're not.