Airlie Birds soar over Cats

Tickle: 16-point haul

Hull claimed their third straight win with a 52-18 success at Wakefield to cement their place in the Super League top eight.

The Airlie Birds are now three points clear of closest pursuers Salford and Bradford in the final play-off position after a 10-try victory at the Rapid Solicitors Stadium.

The Wildcats had triumphed 20-6 at the KC Stadium in March and looked on course for a double, after Gareth Moore and Kyle Amor scored converted tries to put them 12-0 in front early on.

However, Joe Westerman, Kirk Yeaman and Richard Horne all crossed to put the visitors ahead at the break, while Danny Tickle's score and a superb solo try from Richard Whiting increased their lead.

Luke George narrowed the deficit to keep hopes of a comeback alive, but Whiting got his second of the afternoon and Jordan Turner also crossed to effectively wrap up Hull's win.

Wakefield's challenge was further dented when Jeremy Smith was sin-binned for consecutive offences, while Mark O'Meley, Tom Briscoe and Lee Radford added the gloss to a superb performance from Richard Agar's men.

The hosts, who were looking to bounce back from a disappointing 40-22 loss at fellow strugglers Harlequins last weekend took the initiative at the start.

Hooker Rinaldi's 40-20 gave the Wildcats possession deep in opposition territory and although they could not take advantage, Tickle held down Paul Johnson to give the hosts another set of six.

That ended with a Smith grubber fortunately deflecting off a post and into the path of a grateful Gareth Moore to touch down before duly converting.

Another slice of luck gifted Wakefield their second try, with Smith, once again, providing the grubber kick and Amor taking advantage of some hesitant defending to touch down after the ball had struck the post.

Incisive

But Hull hit back and with their first meaningful attack, incisive passing along the right ended with Sam Obst and Westerman combining, with the latter touching down in the corner.

Tickle added the extras to halve the deficit and the visitors registered two tries before the interval to take a half-time lead.

First, Willie Manu set up Kirk Yeaman to blast through the challenge of Aaron Murphy for his 18th try of the season.

Although Tickle missed with a tough conversion attempt out on the right, Yeaman's offload set up Tom Briscoe and he passed the ball back in-field to Richard Horne, who crossed in acres of space and Tickle made no mistake with the extras this time.

Hull took a firm stranglehold of the encounter when Mark O'Meley's pass allowed Tickle to burst over and the second rower added the extras to open up a 10-point lead.

Wakefield captain Glenn Morrison gave his side an even bigger mountain to climb when his pass was intercepted by Whiting, who sprinted the length of the field to score.

Just as it looked like Hull would win at a canter, Luke George charged down Westerman's kick before he left the visitors defence in his wake.

Moore kept his 100% record with the boot intact but Whiting added his second score after collecting Turner's pass before the centre got himself on the scoresheet to effectively wrap up the win.

After Smith was sin-binned, Hull capitalised on their man advantage when O'Meley went over under the posts, while further scores from Tom Briscoe and Lee Radford bringing up the half-century.