good try from York - Marsh looked offside from the kick through though

Certainly seem to have improved the line speed in attack and especially defence

Another try, slick from Connor & Ma'u after the first 40/20 of the year.

Pretty pleasing first half. Some nice touches from Hull.

Reynolds looking handy and that riught hand side with Calos, Fonua and Savelio could be potent this year.

I'm liking seeing Sneyd popping up on both sides of the pitch and not just stuck down the left.

Be plenty of interchanges now I expect. Good first half.

Savelio impressing so far. Satae and Sao both got stuck in early doors as well.

Some pleasing performances with Swift showing up well, although a few errors by Connor his link up play is a plus, Houghton looks more like his old self, Reynolds & Sneyd look to be complementary to each other’s game. Some big physical defensive stints too across the 13.
Have to say York look a good side so far too and should do well.

Attitude to defend has vastly improved, not many times York has had the opportunity to kick in our half. Which appeared to be a broken record for the last 3 seasons.

A few observations from that half.

We have stuck to a fairly basic gameplan. Keeping it down the middle quite a lot and just looking for those quick play the balls to build momentum. The weather has probably played a part in that.

I think our kick chase has been excellent, and there is a massive improvement in our line speed and wrestle. We look like we have spent a long time working on getting numbers in the tackle, holding the man up and having them play the ball on our terms. We have only looked stretched once, and on that occasion you just have to tip your hat to York for a great try. No massive failings on our part for that try imo.

In attack, Connor has looked rusty but he has also had a few lovely touches and I'm excited to see what he does in better conditions. The speed he can get the ball out of his hands will create a lot of opportunities for us. Reynolds looks lively and him and Connor are linking up really well. Mau's try looked very simple on the face of it but our attacking shape on that play was great. Connor had bags of options on that play and that's incredibly hard to defend against. I've also noticed a lot more players sniffing around looking for those half breaks and offloads. Reynolds, Connor, Sneyd, even Swift a few times. All getting right on the shoulder of the forwards looking for that half chance.

Fonua looks fitter than he did all last season. Bowden also looks in great shape.

I'd like to see us put a few more moves on and chance our arm a little bit more, but I'm really positive about what we've done so far.