Hull off the mark at last

Hull got their first win of the new Super League season in style, as they broke their duck with eight tries in an emphatic 42-18 victory over the Crusaders at the KC Stadium.

A poor crowd of just over 10,000 illustrated the feelings of the Hull fans after three defeats at the start of the season, but coach Richard Agar may have bought himself more time after such a hefty win over the Welsh visitors.

After a scratchy start, Hull's forwards soon got on top and enabled them to run in two tries from Danny Tickle and one each from Richard Whiting, Will Sharpe, Tom Briscoe, Kirk Yeaman, Richard Horne and Sam Obst.

Iestyn Harris' men have collapsed since beating Salford in their opener, and they took an hour to get on the board against Hull until scoring two consolation tries from Rhys Williams and one from Jarrod Sammut.

Hull's sparse crowd did have a rare win to celebrate, but with it being their first since last August, which was also against the Crusaders, it will not be all sunny on the Humber just yet.

Slow start

After a sketchy opening, when the first action did arrive it brought with it the first try of the game after 15 minutes, with Hull's Tickle the scorer.

It was indicative of how disorganised Hull's attack has been that workhorse forward Craig Fitzgibbon ended up with the ball on the last tackle but, after he managed to poke a kick ahead, possession fell kindly for Tickle, who picked up his first try of the season.

The try gave Hull some much-needed belief and, after Yeaman's strength earned them a penalty, they scored a second try when Whiting went in off Danny Houghton's pass, with Tickle adding the goal.

The former Wigan forward was soon going in for his second try of the night, following up Houghton's kick, and all of a sudden talk of Agar leaving the club seemed premature.

Crusaders hooker Lincoln Withers broke through and clear in a rare Crusaders attack but failed to choose the right supporting option, before Sammut, a previous transfer target of Hull, was held up over the line by Whiting.

Cut loose

Some shrewd handling from Sam Moa sent Obst in for his first Hull try two minutes after the restart, before Willie Manu played in Sharp in the corner for a fifth score.

It was Sharp's fourth try in as many appearances since moving to the club from Harlequins in the winter and, with the result in no doubt, Hull began to cut loose.

Horne produced a show-and-go to cross in a move reminiscent of his early days when he was a Great Britain international to grab his side's sixth, before loanee Williams got Crusaders off the mark with a second try of his spell with the club.

Yeaman soon restored Hull's six-try advantage, though, driving over from dummy half, only for Sammut to show just why Hull made such a concerted effort to sign him by ghosting his way over the line.

There was still time for Williams to go in for his second of the game, but by then Hull had done enough and underlined that with a late score from Briscoe.