Westerman inspires Hull romp

Manu: back in action two days after Origin International

Hull piled on further misery for Harlequins as the Londoners slumped to a seventh straight defeat.

The Black and Whites fielded four men who had played in Friday's Origin International and ran out comfortable 38-6 winners.

Willie Manu and Tom Briscoe - on opposite sides in that Headingley clash - both scored for Hull, although both were outshone by a fine display from half-back Joe Westerman.

Westerman led the attack in the absence of injured scrum-half Sean Long and was comfortably the game's best performer, suggesting he could make a run to be involved in the end-of-season Four Nations.

Quins were on the back foot from the moment former Hull winger Mark Calderwood put the ball down on his own 30-metre line, with his old club taking full advantage by going in for a sixth-minute opener.

Play went through the hands of Sam Obst and Richard Whiting before it got to Westerman, whose clever delayed pass put Jordan Turner in for the score.

Danny Tickle added a simple conversion, his 400th goal for the club.

Calderwood was not enjoying his return and after 11 minutes he and full-back Chris Riley got in a tangle as they looked to see Richard Horne's kick out, only to both miss the ball and allow Manu to follow his Exiles try with a second four-pointer of the weekend.

Luke Gale's 40-20 did give the Londoners some rare territory but Chris Bailey's first-tackle knock-on ended that attack prematurely.

For all their dominance, Hull did not look particularly menacing, especially after Horne left the field with a cut, and it was left to Westerman to orchestrate their attacks.

It was on the back of some smart play from him that they scored again nine minutes before the half-time hooter.

Pressure

Westerman burst through the defensive line to give Hull position but, after the attack lost its way, Danny Houghton was forced to hack a kick through that should have been dealt with. But the Quins defenders all hesitated, allowing Obst the simplest of tries.

Quins paid dearly for more handling errors and the pressure on their line told again with two minutes of the opening half left, when Westerman created the space for Kirk Yeaman to lay on Briscoe's 12th try of the season.

Seven minutes after the break Westerman popped up again, this time breaking 40 metres to lay on a play that eventually saw Manu put the returning Horne over, with Sam Moa following him four minutes later after another Manu pass.

Chris Melling did get the Quins on the scoresheet with 22 minutes remaining, before Houghton was carried off wearing a neck brace following a lengthy delay.

But Hull had the final word, as Whiting went through a gap after a neat left-side move for a seventh try to complete a comfortable afternoon for the Airlie Birds.