Hoppers demolished by Ionians

Hoppers crashed to their second consecutive defeat to a bottom six side in embarrassing fashion as struggling Hull Ionians ran in eight tries to rack up a much needed win. After stagnating at Nuneaton the week before Hoppers were looking to bounce back, but shoddy tackling and some basic errors cost them dearly.

In an open and free flowing game it was the host that started brightly capitalising on Hoppers mistakes to take a 3-0 lead with a James Ferguson penalty, the fly half had a near perfect kicking display and orchestrated much of Ionians good play. Hoppers took the lead after Sean Taylor and Matt Hughes combined well down the right and Taylor had way to much pace for the defence but the lead was short lived as Mark Duxbury crossed following a good break from the impressive Oli Marns and Ferguson stretched the lead with his second penalty.

Hoppers did take the lead again on the half hour mark when Mark Edwards delicate grubber kick was grounded by Tommy Bell but two tries in the final few minutes of the half by Marns sent Ionians in at the break with a 27-14 lead and all the momentum. Marns ran hard all day but both tries could have been avoided with better tackling, the Ionians centre capitalised well to first straighten the line against a scrambling defence and then coast in from half way as no Hoppers player seemed to want to lay a finger on him.

The second half saw similar patterns of play as Hoppers had plenty of possession but were unable to convert it into points. They were wasteful in possession, appeared sluggish and without impetus at the beginning of the half. The game really needed a try to snap it into life and it came, unfortunately for Hoppers, from a poor rushed pass that went to ground and wing Gary Stephenson kicked through and scored by the posts.

Hoppers again enjoyed a length period of possession but were unable to do much against an Ionians side now growing in confidence with the bonus point and win looking secured. Cameron Berry did cause a few nervous glances from the spectators when he crashed over with 15 minutes to go following a 5m line out to bring Hoppers within two converted tries at 34-21, but any chance of a famous comeback was quickly ended as Ionians ran in four tries in the final ten minutes.

Replacement Chris Cusack rounded off a wonderful counter attack, Ferguson intercepted on half way to sprint clear, Steve Quigley powered over from a stolen 5m line out and Marns rounded the game off in style to complete his hat trick.