The Hull FC hooker on his running game, form, season realities, not giving up, and Andy Last’s focus.
Hull FC hooker Amir Bourouh.
Amir Bourouh is aiming to open up his running game in the second half of Hull FC’s season – and add another dimension to his game.
Working in tandem with Cade Cust, the hooker knows he has to pick his opportunities and back himself, and he’s determined to do just that.
Encouraged by interim coach Andy Last to get out of nine and attack, Bourouh is targeting a big few weeks, with the 25-year-old looking to put a frustrating period, including a head knock and three Hull defeats, behind him.
“It’s the side of my game I need to keep working on and getting better,” Bourouh, speaking to Hull Live, said. “I just need to back myself, really. Everyone says I can do it and I believe I can do it, so I just have to trust myself and take my chances.
“I can’t just wait for something to happen. I’ve got to make things happen. A lot of the good nines in the competition, they’ll make things happen regardless.
“It is hard to do sometimes, especially with the way we play, or have been playing, but I know if I do it, it’ll be beneficial for the team. I just need to keep backing myself and take my opportunities, especially when we’re interchanging – it’s full-on 100% and you’ve got to take every chance you get.”
Of course, Bourouh isn’t on his own with adaptation this year, with the hooker conceding that Hull’s plan was thrown in the bin back in round two after Will Pryce’s gutting ACL injury.
That reality was compounded even more on Good Friday after John Asiata’s hamstring went again, and while some see it as excuse-making, it’s reality, and in truth, Hull, with an ever-changing team, have been learning on the run.
“It’s been quite tricky from the start of the year, to be honest with you, especially with Prycey going down so early,” Bourouh explained. “He was massive for our attack, and basically everything we did in pre-season was gone when he went down.
“We’ve had to adapt without him and Logan Moy has done a great job filling in, but Pryce brings a bit of a different style of play, so that’s been hard.
“Obviously, Johnny, he does a lot of the ball playing through the middle for us as well, so then it’s finding another way of playing without him, which is an ongoing problem really, but there’s ways to do it, and we just need to keep it simple and utilise what we’ve got out there.”
Those realities are not to suggest Hull have written 2026 off. Far from it. And Bourouh is still confident Hull can achieve something this year.
“Our form has been massively disappointing,” he admitted. “There have been games that, as players and as staff, we would be looking to win, but it’s part of the game, and it happens. We just need to make sure we pick up wins elsewhere now and just build on the season.
“It’s still early and you can’t write it off, but first and foremost, we need to start getting some form back and pick up a few wins. We can worry about everything else later. We just need to start playing well, get some wins, and see where we end up.
“We need to score tries for a start, which we’ve been struggling at doing, but I think it’s more just individual performances; if everyone just steps up a little bit of a tiny gear as a collective, it’ll change everything.
“Admittedly, I’ve probably been part of that. I think everybody has been part of that, and if we all start performing at 7s or 8s out of 10s every week, then I’m sure we’ll start getting the wins.”
Despite the tough nature of the season so far, Bourouh is at home in East Yorkshire. He has a young family now and is settled into his second season as a Black and White.
“I’m really enjoying it over here,” Bourouh said. “Obviously, it’s been a bit of a different season to last year, there were higher expectations from everyone and we’ve not really been able to achieve that yet, so it’s been a bit of frustrating start to the to the year, but again, hopefully we can swing that back. We’ve still got time.
“I’m just looking forward to that next win. I don’t want my time here to be a waste of time. I want to win something. It’s a club which has those ambitions. They’ve done it before, and those Hull FC fans – they want those trophies back. When it’ll be, I don’t know, but I want to win some silverware.”
For now, it’s all about staying fit after a recent HIA knock and finding some form as a team.
“It’s tough being on the sideline and touch wood, I don’t get injured too much more now,” Bourouh added. “It’s normally my head. I just need to stop putting it in the wrong place.
“But for us as a team, it’s about our effort areas – that’s what Andy has put a massive emphasis on: our effort on kick chases, kick pressures, scraps, and just fighting for everything. I think that’s a great foundation to have as a rugby player.
“We’ve shown we can do that. It’s just doing that for longer periods now and sticking with it for the whole game. If we can do that, we’ll be alright.”