Hull FC into top six with win at struggling Salford
Hull FC moved back into Super League's play-off positions as they saw off a spirited Salford Red Devils.The visitors took the two points to climb to sixth, but this was harder work than the scoreline suggests at Salford Community Stadium.The gap was only eight points at the interval after tries from Cade Cust, Lewis Martin and Davy Litten with Chris Hankinson crossing for Salford's sole try.But Hull took control in the second half as Sam Eseh, Zak Hardaker, Tom Briscoe and Harvey Barron added another four tries.Salford stay bottom, but they are now two points adrift of Huddersfield after the Giants' surprise win at Warrington Wolves on Saturday.
More to follow.
Salford Red Devils: Connell; Vaughan, Hankinson, S Hill, Marsters; Warren, Brierley; Ormondroyd, Robb, C Hill, Foster, Russell, Shorrocks.Interchanges: Bullock, Wilson, Rugless, Whitehead.Hull FC: Rapana; Barron, Briscoe, Litten, Martin; Cust, Sezer; Ese'ese, Bourouh, Knight, Hardaker, Chamberlain, Aydin.Interchanges: Ashworth, Eseh, Fash, Charles.Referee: Tom Grant.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Morecambe on verge of administration amid infighting and stalled takeover talks
Morecambe are on the verge of entering administration after talks between the club's directors and owner Jason Whittingham failed to find a breakthrough regarding a potential takeover. The Panjab Warriors consortium received clearance from the Football League to complete a takeover of the Shrimps at the start of June but the process remains incomplete and on Friday Morecambe's board said Whittingham and his Bond Group Investments 'appear to be considering reneging on the deal'. Early on Tuesday the board set a deadline of 4pm for Whittingham to conclude the deal as his group did not have the funds required to meet the club's payroll commitments, saying they would call in the receivers if the deadline was not met. That deadline was later extended to 6pm 'after new information came to light', but a further statement on Tuesday evening said that no progress had been made. The statement read: 'Following further discussions with Jason Whittingham this afternoon and evening, it is apparent to the board of directors that he is, for some reason, stalling for time and attempting to drag out what is a truly horrible situation and decision for as long as possible. 'We must emphasise that this is without providing the board with any substantive or convincing reasons for us to responsibly delay triggering the administration process. 'The board of directors have this evening informed Jason that administrators will be called, at the earliest opportunity, tomorrow morning. Jason still has the chance to do the right thing, agree to sell his shares tomorrow morning, but that opportunity expires once and for all after that.' Morecambe suffered relegation from League Two at the end of last season and are due to compete in the National League next term.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'Grass is playing like clay' - Wimbledon's 'slow' courts
Wimbledon 2025Venue: All England Club Dates: 30 June-13 JulyCoverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. Full coverage guide. Conditions have been tough for the players at Wimbledon, but for some it is not just the high temperatures making things difficult - it is also the grass they are playing of those competing at the Grand Slam this week have said the balls are bouncing differently, while one player said it is like playing on clay - traditionally a much slower has been an especially hot start to the tournament, with Monday setting a record for the warmest opening day when the temperature reached 32.3C, while the mercury rose to 33.4C on women's champion Barbora Krejcikova voiced her thoughts on the surface after battling back to win her opening match against Alexandra Eala."There's not enough water, and it gets really, really yellow, very, very fast," she said."I think with the heat, yes, the grass is more like stopping. The game is just different [to] what you are normally used to." 'This isn't grass anymore' - what have players said? Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the number 27 seed at Wimbledon, was knocked out by Argentina's Mariano Navone in the first was broken six times by his opponent as he suffered his earliest exit at the tournament since 2019."The balls are the worst, the grass tour has turned into a joke," he said after his defeat."This isn't grass anymore, the court is slower than a clay one. It's not even grass."Two-time champion Petra Kvitova said things had changed over the years."I'm not sure if it's only grass," she said after her final appearance at the All England Club ended in a defeat by 10th seed Emma Navarro. "Maybe it's the balls, as well. Overall it's getting slower."Eight top-10 seeded players have exited in the first round - the highest tally at a single Grand Slam event in the Open those to be knocked out was American third seed Jessica Pegula, who said the courts at Wimbledon "felt different" but added: "That's grass – they're all kind of different. It's a living surface, they're not going to play the same."Poland's former world number one Iga Swiatek, who beat Russian Polina Kudermetova 7-5 6-1 in her first-round match, feels the Wimbledon courts are playing slower but expects things to change in the coming days."It [Wimbledon] was slower, and kind of more slippery with the movement," she said. "But also with the heat and everything the ball bounced differently than how it will in the coming days, so I'm not really focusing on that. "With the change of the weather we will have to adjust every day to the different conditions." What is the effect of slower courts? Slower courts lead to longer rallies as players have more time on the ball. It can therefore also lead to longer matches, which can be more physically draining for doubles player Dom Inglot told BBC Sport that courts had been getting slower since 2001. Before that, you would see players hitting serve and volley predominantly rather than the long baseline rallies you more often see believes part of the change is down to Wimbledon wanting to make the courts more aesthetically appealing after years where the courts looked very worn by the second week, while also wanting to deliver a better spectacle for fans."The idea was Wimbledon had to compete with the great rallies you were seeing at the Australian Open, US Open, French Open," he said. "Serve and volley all the time was getting a bit mundane so they wanted more rallies and so there was discussion of do you change balls, do you change the court and I think they went with both."Inglot has been playing with this year's Wimbledon ball on hard courts and has found it is playing differently to last year's, and therefore expects that to be the case on also said the surfaces at different grass tournaments would play differently - including at the Wimbledon qualifying event at Roehampton and Queen's - and so doing well on those surfaces may not translate to doing well at the All England Club. A slower surface means players need to adapt their tactics. "It was ridiculous to think you could hit a kick serve that would jump off the surface like a kick works on clay or hard courts – that was not imaginable 10 years ago, now kick is working," he said."It used to be slice serves and flat serves but now you're using kick serves because you're starting to get the ball moving away from opponents." What type of grass is used at Wimbledon? Wimbledon has not commented on whether this year's courts are slower than in previous years. Since 2001 the Wimbledon grass is comprised of perennial pyegrass, which is said to have the durability and strength to withstand the wear of the modern official website says that during the tournament the height of grass is eight millimetres and is cut every day, while a "little bit of water" is put on the courts overnight.A number of factors affect the speed of a court which include the compacting of the soil over time, as well as the weather before and during the and dry days should make a ball lighter and faster, while cold and damp days would make it seem heavier and soil, it says, largely determines the bounce of ball, not the have been no changes to the specification of the ball since 1995, when there was a very minimal alteration in compression.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'England face questions after bump back down to earth'
The first half of 2025 has been a whirlwind for England's women. It started with a demolishing at the hands of Australia, which resulted in an upheaval in leadership, before the new era under Charlotte Edwards and Nat Sciver-Brunt inflicted a similarly dominant thrashing on West Indies. But that win came with the warning not to get carried away, considering the weak opposition, and to expect a much tougher examination once India arrived for five T20s and three one-day internationals. That warning has been delivered immediately as the tourists have taken a 2-0 lead, with the opportunity to seal the T20 series at The Oval on Friday. Of course, adjusting to new leadership will always take some time to bed in, and this could be seen as a good thing for England to be tested by high-quality opposition before the autumn's World Cup in India - something they did not have before the fateful series against Australia. However, these two defeats felt all too familiar - and England have barely competed in either. Under pressure, catches have gone down, bowling plans have become muddled and the batting has not fired, particularly struggling against spin. England, Sciver-Brunt and Edwards have had a sharp bump back down to earth. Top-dorder scrutiny - time for change? England are without former captain Heather Knight, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, and she will almost certainly slot straight back into the middle order because they are crying out for her stability and calmness when things are not going to plan. There is a particular concern around the opening partnership. Danni Wyatt-Hodge has scored one run in her past four T20 innings, and 87 runs in her past eight - with 52 coming from one knock in Australia. The opening stand has passed 50 just once in eight matches, averaging less than 15, and England have been 9-2 chasing 211 at Trent Bridge and 2-2 chasing 182 at Bristol before slumping to 113 all out and 157-7. There have been fine knocks from Sciver-Brunt and Tammy Beaumont, making a half-century each, with the latter an option to move up the order if Edwards wants to go in a different direction at the top."She'll certainly be vulnerable. I'd probably assess where Danni's at - sometimes if a player's going really badly, they need to be taken away from the spotlight and given that break to reset," said Knight on Sky Sports after the second defeat. "Tammy's done brilliantly today, one nice spark in the England innings and her natural spot is opening the batting, so that is an option there. "Paige Scholfield is someone who might come in, she can bat at the top of the order, but I think her best position is probably in the middle. She's had a brilliant 12-18 months in that attacking role." 'Full confidence in our players' Sciver-Brunt understandably did not comment on whether there would be any changes in the immediate aftermath of the Bristol defeat, saying she had "full confidence" in all the also highlighted England's significant improvement in the powerplay, where they restricted India to 35-3, but India's counter-attack appeared to catch the bowlers off guard and they deviated from their plans. In the powerplay 33% of their deliveries were on a good line and length at a run-rate of 4.2, but that dipped to 15% in the middle overs as India added 103-1 and 11% in the final four overs as Amanjot Kaur and Richa Ghosh took the game away from England. Lauren Bell was one of few England players to come away from the Ashes with credit and has continued that form this summer, taking 2-17 at Bristol as she now leads the attack with much-improved maturity and consistency. She executed her slower-ball plan effectively, setting the field accordingly and forcing India's batters to adjust to India have been smart, and England have not responded quickly enough. Linsey Smith, who starred against West Indies with her left-arm spin, has been clearly targeted with 0-41 from three overs at Trent Bridge and 0-37 off three at Bristol. It is unfamiliar territory for England, who are so dominant at home - prior to the Windies series, they had won 79.3% of their completed white-ball games at home since 2020. They should not be written off after just two matches against a side that are turning into genuine World Cup contenders, particularly on home turf, and it is not yet crunch time for England or Edwards in terms of whether they can turn this around. But the new coach is said by those around her to be ruthless, and unafraid to make tough decisions if best for the team. This is England's first challenge under her leadership, and how Edwards responds to it will reveal just how much has really changed in the set-up which was previously accused of cosiness and complacency.
