How April looks for Hull FC as Black and Whites set for crucial month

Hull FC have made an impressive start to the 2022 campaign but April is a crucial month with a series of potentially season-defining fixtures. Brett Hodgson’s men claimed four wins in the opening seven rounds of Super League but came off a narrow second-best in Thursday’s 19-18 defeat at Wigan Warriors.

They are still alive in the Challenge Cup after seeing off Sheffield Eagles last weekend, leaving them facing five games in an important month – including three successive home matches. Here, Hull Live takes a look at what April has in store for the Black and Whites.

This Challenge Cup quarter-final is a huge game with the winners moving to within eighty minutes of a final appearance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 28. Hull FC have proved they can go all the way in rugby league’s oldest and most famous competition, winning it twice in as many years under Lee Radford in 2016 and 2017.

Even under Hodgson last term, they reached the semi-finals. The way that they have started this season, and with proven big-game players such as Luke Gale, Jake Connor and Danny Houghton in their ranks, FC can approach the trip to Huddersfield with confidence.

They recently beat Ian Watson’s side 14-6 in a tightly-contested Super League encounter so will head to the John Smith’s Stadium knowing they can beat the opponents in front of them.

Nothing stirs the blood quite like a Hull derby at Easter and the trip across town will feel like entering a lion’s den for Hodgson’s players. It will be a first home derby for Rovers since 2019 and means so much to both sides of the city with a huge crowd expected at Craven Park.

The Robins reached new heights last term as they made the Super League play-off semi-finals for the first time in their