Hull FC’s resurgence no surprise to Masi Matongo

Matongo scored the second of Hull’s six tries in a 34-10 demolition of Leeds Rhinos three days ago. The 22-year-old was a driving force in Hull’s pack as they recovered from 10-0 behind after nine minutes to tear Leeds apart in a blistering 22-minute first-half spell when they scored 20 unanswered points.

Hull’s performance was a far cry from some of their lacklustre efforts during a 13-game losing run from June, 2018 to last month, but Matongo said belief in the camp had not wavered and the important thing now is to keep building momentum.

“It was obviously a good win for us, we are three from three now and we have just got to keep pushing forwards and keep the ball rolling,” said the Zimbabwe-born forward. “The first part of the season wasn’t great, but as a team we knew what we could do and what we were doing was right. We were just off in the first two games, but we knew we weren’t far away.”

With some of Hull’s more experienced pack men ruled out at the start of the season, Matongo has stepped up to prove his credentials as a Super League front-rower.

Of his own form, he said: “It is great for me. Through pre-season I never even knew I would be starting. I thought I’d just get a place on the bench and I was working hard for that.

“Obviously (coach) Lee Radford has faith in me, that’s a proud moment for me and I want to keep working hard for him.”

Matongo paid tribute to 37-year-old veteran Gareth Ellis whose return from retirement sparked Hull’s winning sequence.

“He is a leader in everything he does,” said the youngster. “He is a great bloke and he is a machine, I don’t know how he does it.”