WARRINGTON WOLVES 22 HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS 34 Dave Parkinson at The Halliwell Jones Stadium, Friday.
With play-off time fast approaching, the top six of the Engage Super League is still far from decided as Huddersfield backed up their impressive win over Bradford with victory in a tough encounter at Warrington described as “patient” by Giants boss Jon Sharp.
“It was an important game.” He admitted. “We spoke very much about us having to be patient and build pressure, probably be ready for a really aggressive start from Warrington, which we saw and dealt with pretty good.”
“Overall I thought defensively we were fantastic, very aggressive, had plenty of linespeed about us and our line speed was good.Offensively we didn’t have much to play with and we didn’t have great field position early on, particularly in the first half.”
“This performance was a different type from us it was more dogged and more patient. We hung in there, weathered the storm and silenced the crowd.”
“We are in the top six on merit, but we aren’t there for sure. This group of players has achieved something really special, scoring 25 points, the most a Huddersfield Giants team has ever won in Super League which makes all of us really proud.”
The game gave the perfect opportunity for Chris Leikvoll, Brent Grose and Henry Fa’afili to bring the curtain down on their Warrington league careers. A fairy tale finish certainly looked on the cards early in the game as the Wolves dominated.
Lee Briers kicked a first minute 40-20 and after peppering the try-line without success a loose hand saw the tackle count zeroed. Warrington pushed the ball left and Ben Westwood was held over the line. From the resulting play-the-ball Fa’afili spotted loose markers, dancing past both and through another tackle to ground at the corner.
Ben Harrison knocked on from the restart and the Giants worked the field position well as Ryan Hudson teased a defender out of the line before shooting through the gap to score after six minutes. Thorman converted but the Giants lead was short-lived when Hudson saw the ball go loose in a tackle and Westwood was involved with Adrian Morley before taking a reverse pass to cross out wide. Briers was no nearer with his second conversion attempt.
The game really cranked up after 20 minutes with the arrival of Eorl Crabtree to the field. Immediately the Wolves forwards targeted the England International before he got an opportunity to respond with a crunching hit on Andy Bracek. Another heavy tackle then brought Paul Wood’s game to an end and the prognosis was not looking good according to Paul Cullen after the match.
“He has a very badly bust shoulder. The shoulder came out and we fear he broke it as well.”
As Warrington tried to counter Morley lost possession and from the opportunity Hudson fed Brad Drew and he moved past Leikvoll and inside Grose with ease. Thorman converted but missed a relatively simple penalty goal minutes later following a high tackle by Morley on Stuart Jones.
Although Drew forced a drop-out, Huddersfield could not add to their tally and it was the mercurial Briers who conjured up another touchdown for Kevin Penny. The young winger just can’t stop scoring, although this effort was reviewed several times by video referee Steve Ganson before being awarded. The Giants had one final opportunity of points before half-time but Drew’s attempted drop goal barely fluttered off the damp surface.
Warrington once again started the second half well with Grose carrying the hosts deep into Huddersfield territory and when Rob Parker chased an inch perfect kick, the Giants conceded a drop-out. Parker then rampaged to the line with only desperate defence preventing a try by the former Bradford forward before Rob Jensen intercepted and ran the full length of the field. Referee Richard Silverwood again referred the decision upstairs but the decision favoured the visitors and Thorman again put six points between the teams.
“He’s scored three 90 metre tries in his last four games. Said Sharp of Jensen. “He’s been a super buy for us and we are really excited about his improvement as well. I still believe he can become a better player than he already is.”
For five mad minutes the Wolves discipline faded with both Morley and Paul Rauhihi placed on report. The latter incident on Paul Jackson saw Thorman kick his fourth goal. Just past the hour mark, Huddersfield finally edged away when Drew angled a clever kick to the corner and Jamahl Lolesi got the faintest of touches, again confirmed by the video referee following a lengthy stoppage.
After 67 minutes, Warrington gave themselves a chance with a well worked try at the corner. Following good play from Jon Clarke and Grose, Westwood bulldozed through. Just when a comeback looked on the cards, the deck was toppled. Briers intended pass for Martin Gleeson went straight to Kevin Brown allowing the former Wigan stand-off a clear run to the line from forty-five metres. Thorman converted and although Westwood added a carbon copy hat-trick and goaled superbly, the Huddersfield skipper had the final word with his seventh goal after Lolesi was fouled in stoppage time.
“I think we got what we deserved.” Paul Cullen said. “I think our discipline simply wasn’t good enough. I really do appreciate the efforts of the players, I think we scored five very good tries, lot of width, lot of movement but in between, the discipline wasn’t good enough.
“Everytime we had good field position we gave a penalty away. We surrendered the battle of field position. I’m concerned with every penalty that we’ve given away. We’ve not been composed, we’ve not been disciplined enough and have squandered two points.”
“If we spend too much time looking at tables and numbers we may possibly take our eyes off what needs to be done.”
GAMEBREAKER: The final Huddersfield try put enough daylight between the teams to ensure even Westwood’s hat-trick heroics came to nought.
GAMESTAR: Brad Drew was in fine form and a major inspiration to the entire Giants effort.
TOP TACKLE: Eorl Crabtree’s thunderous effort on Andrew Bracek.
MATCH FACTS:
WOLVES
5 Brent Grose
2 Henry Fa’afili
3 Martin Gleeson
12 Ben Westwood
26 Kevin Penny
9 Jon Clarke
7 Lee Briers
16 Paul Wood
14 Mark Gleeson
10 Paul Rauhihi
11 Adrian Morley
21 Andrew Bracek
22 Ben Harrison
SUBS (all used)
8 Chris Leikvoll
19 Steve Pickersgill
15 Rob Parker
29 Lee Mitchell
GIANTS
6 Chris Thorman
1 Paul Reilly
3 Jamahl Lolesi
11 Chris Nero
24 Rod Jensen
4 Kevin Brown
9 Brad Drew
18 Darrell Griffin
19 Ryan Hudson
10 John Skandalis
14 Stuart Jones
12 Andy Raleigh
13 Stephen Wild
SUBS
7 Robbie Paul
8 Eorl Crabtree
15 Paul Jackson
27 Michael Lawrence (Not Used)
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men-of-the-Match:
Wolves: Ben Westwood
Giants: Brad Drew
Penalties: 6-9
GLDO forced: 1-1
Half-time: 12-12
Referee: Richard Silverwood
Attendance: 8,843
Story of the Game
Mins Score
3 Henry Fa’afili try
Lee Briers missed conversion (0/1) 4-0 Warrington
6 Ryan Hudson try
Chris Thorman conversion (1/1) 4-6 Huddersfield
10 Ben Westwood try
Lee Briers missed conversion (0/2) 8-6 Warrington
23 Paul Wood game ending shoulder injury
26 Brad Drew try
Chris Thorman conversion (2/2) 8-12 Huddersfield
27 Chris Thorman missed penalty (2/3)
38 Kevin Penny try
Lee Briers missed conversion (0/3) 12-12 Warrington
HALFTIME
47 Rod Jensen try
Chris Thorman conversion (3/4) 12-18 Huddersfield
54 Chris Morley on report (suspected high tackle)
58 Paul Rauhihi on report (suspected dangerous throw)
58 Chris Thorman penalty (4/5) 12-20 Huddersfield
61 Jamahl Lolesi try
Chris Thorman conversion (5/6) 12-26 Huddersfield
67 Ben Westwood try
Ben Westwood missed conversion (0/1) 16-26 Warrington
70 Kevin Brown try
Chris Thorman conversion (6/7) 16-32 Huddersfield
71 Ben Westwood try (his hat-trick)
Ben Westwood conversion (1/2) 22-32 Warrington
80 Chris Thorman penalty (7/8) 22-34 Huddersfield
FULL TIME
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