![\"Hull](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0__AM10213.jpg\")
Hull FC’s Lewis Martin is tackled by Hull KR’s James Batchelor.(Image: SW PIX)<\/p>\nHull FC were defeated 18-4 at Hull KR.<\/p>\n
18:01, 07 Sep 2025Updated 18:05, 07 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
Hull FC’s Lewis Martin is tackled by Hull KR’s James Batchelor.(Image: SW PIX)<\/p>\n
John Cartwright labelled the 249th Hull derby a ‘dour affair’ but nonetheless was proud of the effort and spirit from his Hull FC<\/a> side. The patched-up Black and Whites were beaten 18-4 by Hull KR<\/a> at Craven Park on Sunday afternoon \u2013 a game that was much more competitive than many expected.<\/p>\n However, Cartwright also conceded that his Hull side were ‘outclassed’ in the end, with the Aussie head coach highlighting an influential performance by a former FC player in Jez Litten. With Rovers leading 4-0 at half-time, the lively hooker scored a crucial try in the second half to take the game to 10-0 and played a big part in the Robins’ win \u2013 who now need one more victory to tie up the League Leaders Shield.<\/p>\n Speaking to Hull Live post-match, Cartwright said: “It was a really dour affair. We were probably outclassed in the end. Jez Litten was a constant threat to us. He was the major difference between the two sides.<\/p>\n “I thought both forward packs cancelled themselves out and I thought we did a good job, in general, on their halves and their full-back, but he (Litten) has done it to us before, and he got us again.”<\/p>\n Rovers started the stronger of the two sides, suffocating Hull in their own half and restricting the away side’s yardage. It was a brutal spell, with FC, built of sterner stuff this year, absorbing the pressure and then coming out of the other side, having their own opportunities to score.<\/p>\n Cartwright continued: “It was a very tough and brutal game. They are very good with their line speed and they are good at controlling the ruck. It was brutal, especially in the first-half, where there was no space for us to attack at all.<\/p>\n “We couldn’t even try and shift the ball as they were getting into our faces that quick. They did a good job at that, but I thought we took some heavy punishment and actually came out the other side and probably had the better of the second bit of the first-half.<\/p>\n “It was just unfortunate in the second half. We were very disciplined with the ball in the second half; we couldn’t throw a lot at them, but then in the second half, we dropped passes, we threw three forward passes, and we dropped a kick. There were some errors that crept in and we gave them opportunities.<\/p>\n “We built some pressure but we just lacked a bit of polish. The quality sides we’ve played over the last few weeks, we’ve just lacked that little bit of polish to put points on the board. We’re defending well and we’re competing hard. We get field position and if Zak scores that try, who knows? We may have gone in to half-time in front, but that’s our story over the last couple of weeks. Things haven’t gone well for us.”<\/p>\n Hull saw sin bins for Yusuf Aydin and Jordan Rapana in the second half. Aydin was sent for ten minutes after a contact on Arthur Mourgue, while Rapana was sin-binned after a high shot on the full-back, who did it tough in Craven Park.<\/p>\n “I’ll be interested in the Yusuf one,” Cartwright added. “The vision you get here isn’t all that flash, so I couldn’t see clearly how it went, but I really hope it’s an offence and it’s not something they look at and say, ‘There’s nothing to answer.’<\/p>\n “If you’re going to sin bin a guy and make it 13 on 12, it’s a critical part of the game. I’ll look at the incident and if it warranted a sin bin, we’ll say so be it, but it doesn’t matter now \u2013 the game is over.<\/p>\n “Again with Jordan, the vision isn’t flash. Hopefully, he hasn’t got him high \u2013 he didn’t think he got him high. Hopefully, it’s just a timing thing. We’ll just have to wait for the match report. If it’s not high, we’ll hold our hope that he will be okay.”<\/p>\n On Rapana’s overall performance, with the Kiwi running strong in the centre spot, Cartwright added: “It’s freed him up and that was his sort of game. He likes those tough games; the tougher it gets, that’s where you see him at his best.”<\/p>\n And on Elliot Minchella, who also saw yellow for a hit on Hull’s Lewis Martin, Cartwright added: “I think Lewis was slipping but they are the rules. He got him high with his shoulder. I don’t know how they’re going to rate that one. I couldn’t tell you, but by the way the games have been officiated this year, it’s a sin bin for sure.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hull FC were defeated 18-4 at Hull KR. 18:01, 07 Sep 2025Updated 18:05, 07 Sep 2025 Hull FC’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[140224,115424,117578,138029,6531,79,16,15,119300],"class_list":{"0":"post-406990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-elliot-minchella","9":"tag-hull-fc","10":"tag-john-cartwright","11":"tag-jordan-rapana","12":"tag-rugby-league","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-yusuf-aydin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115166919638657787","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}