Giants beaten in War of Attrition

Huddersfield Giants 12-19 Warrington Wolves

Huddersfield Giants 12 (6)

Tries: Wardle, Gavet

Goals: Sezer (2/2)

Warrington Wolves 19 (8)

Tries: Clark (2), Gelling

Goals: Ratchford (3/4) Drop Goals: Widdop

Huddersfield Giants fell to their fourth straight defeat with a 19-12 loss to playoff chasing Warrington Wolves at the Totally Wicked Stadium. 

The Giants battled traffic on the M62 and kick-off was subsequently delayed by 30 minutes, but on the field, the pre-match focused on Leroy Cudjoe, who made his 300th appearance for the club. Elsewhere, the Giants traditional back-three of Golding, McGillvary and McIntosh were reunited for as tough a test as there comes in the Super League. 

Warrington were looking to seal their spot in the playoffs, and took the lead early courtesy of a Daryl Clark scoot under the post, Ratchford adding the extras to give the 'hosts' a 6-0 lead after just 8 minutes of the match. 

A topsy turvy affair was pot-marked with injuries, with Lee Gaskell, Josh Charnley and Josh Thewlis all spending time on the floor in the first half, which killed much of the attacking momentum. The Giants did, however, muster a bit of pressure towards the end of the first stanza to create an opportunity with a Sezer cross-field kick to Darnell McIntosh, which was juggled by the Warrington defence to leave the opportunity for Jake Wardle to score the Giants opening try of the game, converted by captain Sezer, just two minutes before the end of the half. 

Despite that, a penalty conceded by Joe Wardle gave Stefan Ratchford the attempt to give the Wolves the lead as the hooter sounded, which he made from about 35m out to give the 'hosts' the lead at the break. 

The Giants had the better of the opening stages of the second half, however, and James Gavet found his way over in the 43rd minute to give the Giants their first lead of the game, with Aidan Sezer nailing the conversion to give the Giants a four point lead. Further pressure could have seen Jermaine McGillvary touch down in the corner for back-to-back tries, but McGillvary couldn't keep hold of the ball. 

A break by Josh Thewlis created the opening for Daryl Clark to get his second of the match, finishing a well worked move down the right hand side to see the hosts draw level again, before Ratchford added the extras to give the Wolves a two point lead. Antony Gelling further increased the Warrington lead on the hour mark, but Ratchford couldn't convert, meaning a converted try would draw the Giants level in the game. 

After a kick into behind the goal-line was narrowly missed by Aidan Sezer, the Giants captain kicked the ball into the stands and received ten minutes in the bin, before Gareth Widdop dropped a goal to give the Wolves a seven point, two score lead with 5 minutes left on the clock. 

Widdop was involved again a minute later, with an inspired kick over the Giants defence which was deemed to be held up after a challenge from Ash Golding on the former St George man, giving the Giants hope going into the final four minutes, and Ash Golding again looked to have found the gap for Jordan Turner to run onto, but the Giants stand-off went without the ball and the Giants would fall to their fourth straight defeat in the Betfred Super League. 

They'll go on to face Wigan, next Thursday on Sky Sports, and will look to end the season on a high after a tumultuous 2020 campaign in their remaining three games.  

Giants: Golding, McGillvary, Wardle, Cudjoe, McIntosh; Gaskell, Sezer; Ta'ai, Moore, Hewitt; Wardle, McQueen, Lawrence

Interchange: Wilson, English, Turner, Gavet

Wolves: Ratchford, Charnley, Gelling, King, Thewlis; Austin, Widdop; Hill, D. Clark, Cooper; Currie, Hughes, Clark

Interchange: Murdoch-Masila, Philbin, Davis, Walker