Hull send Wigan round the Horne
Hull 26 Wigan 18
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Your support makes all the difference.Two second-half tries from the outstanding Richard Horne, who on this form has to be in David Waite's next Great Britain team, denied Wigan second place in Super League and revived Hull's own march into the play-offs.
Wigan were on the way to extending their unbeaten run to 13 when Horne scored one of the best individual tries of the season seven minutes into the second half, beating five men on a jinking run.
That put Hull ahead for the first time on a memorable night at The Boulevard. Three goals from Matt Crowther stretched the lead, but with Jamie Ainscough back on the field from the sinbin and Hull's Garreth Carvell replacing him there, Wigan hit back.
Adrian Lam and Julian O'Neill moved the ball wide for Brian Carney, but what should have been the winning try went begging when Carney collided with Gary Connolly under Andy Farrell's kick with no defender around.
The Hull defence, with Horne outstanding, stood up to everything else Wigan could throw at them and, with 90 seconds left Paul Cooke found a gap and Horne ran through to score a try that delighted Hull supporters.
This was some achievement; a result recorded without a full quota of forwards, with three young backs on the bench, and with Horne playing away from his usual halfback position at full-back.
"He can play anywhere," said his coach, Shaun McRae. "He's a terrific player to have around, but I think he might have shown where his future lies tonight. He's a very good full-back."
Wigan had started as though they were destined to finish the night in their highest position in the table all season, dominating the early stages and going ahead through O'Neill.
But Tony Smith, captaining Hull in place of his injured namesake Jason, was another in exceptional form and he timed his run perfectly to score from Cooke's little kick.
Lam sent Farrell over for the try that restored Wigan's lead, but they failed to go on amd complete the job, much to the annoyance of their coach.
Stuart Raper's reaction was to call them in for extra training today. "They were going to have two days off, but they are not now," he said. "I was disappointed by the way we came into this game and the way we played."
Raper acknowledged that the bizarre collision between Carney and Connolly had deprived his side of an obvious chance to win. "But there were plenty of opportunities that we did not take," he said.
Hull: Horne; Raynor, Kohe-Love, MacKay, Crowther; Cooke, T Smith; Greenhill, Jackson, King, Maher, Fletcher, Chester. Substitutes used: Carvell, Parker, Yeaman.
Wigan: Radlinski; Carney, Hodgson, Connolly, Ainscough; O'Neill, Lam; O'Connor, Newton, C Smith, Cassidy, Furner, Farrell. Substitutes used: Howard, Tickle, M Smith, O'Loughlin.
Referee: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington).
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