Giants victorious in France again!

Huddersfield Giants (18) 22
Tries: Leutele, O'Brien, McQueen x 2
Goals: Will Pryce x 3
Drop-Goals:
Catalans Dragons (2) 14
Tries: Mourgue, Laguerre
Goals: Tomkins x 3
Drop-Goals:
Huddersfield Giants: Lolohea, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Leutele, Wardle; Cogger, Pryce; Trout, O'Brein, Lawrence; Jones, McQueen, English
Interchange: Levi, Hewitt, Mason, Ashworth
Catalans Dragons: Tomkins, Davies, May, Laguerre, Yaha; Pearce, Mourgue; Dudson, Mcllarum, Napa; Whitley, McMeeken, Garcia
Interchange: Seguier, Dezaria, Chan, Garcia

After what had been a tough week for the Giants and fans, Huddersfield bounced back with a fantastic Friday night win, in a hot and humid Perpignan, despite being under heavy pressure in the second half.

The game started brilliantly for the Giants after Tui kicked a fantastic 40/20 in only the 2^nd minute of time. With the Giants pushed high up the field they then went and won a penalty under the posts thanks to a high tackle on Michael Lawrence. Instead of kicking the Giants went for the try line and they were reward for taking the risk. The ball was shifted fast out to the left and in the hands of Ricky Leutele he did what he does best and crashed through the defence and over the line. Will Pryce couldn’t convert his first kick of the game, but the Giants were 4-0 up.

10 minutes later Pryce made up for the miss earlier after converting a penalty right in front of the sticks. Lead extended 6-0 Giants.

24 minutes into the half and the Giants were across yet again, Adam O’Brien, back in the team, pulled off a classic O’Brien scuttle and took the ball from the breakdown a good 30 yards through wide open space and across the try line yet again, fantastic try and the extra points were good too from Pryce. 12-0 to the Giants.

As the game went on there were repeated penalties and turnovers from both sides. The humidity clearly playing it’s part in a game where you won’t see the ball dropped more unless you’re at a basketball game.

With two minutes left of the half the Giants saw a clear route through the confusion after a fantastic move on the right edge put Jack Cogger in behind the Dragons defensive line, under pressure he waited for the on-rushing McQueen who took the ball skipped around the last Dragons defender and increased the Giants lead with another converted try.

At half-time thanks to a last-minute Dragons penalty, it was Giants 18 – 2 Catalans.

After the start of the second half you would be left asking yourself if the Giants were playing the same team. Whereas in the first half the Dragons had been slow and unorganised they were clearly feeling the fire because they came out fast and ruthless.

After only four minutes the deficit had been reduced. The Giants dropped the ball and then an immediate set restart saw the Dragons find the space on the Giants right and they were in for their first try of the game. Immediately you could tell things were going to be different. 18-8.

Again the game became scrappy, the Dragons were moving fast but turnovers and bad decisions stopped them from advancing. But just as the Giants looked to be finding their feet the Dragons struck again, an almost identical try to their first, they opened up space on the Giants right and skipped through to get the try. 55 on the clock, Giants 18 – 14…

The next 20 minutes became more of a fight than a game of Rugby League. From one end to another and set after set the big hits from both sides kept coming, turnovers continued coming off of dropped balls and penalties for offside were plentiful for both teams. The highlight of this void in play came in the 65^th minute when Owen Trout put in a massive hit in the centre of the park which got mutual reaction from the home crowd, they didn’t like that it was on their player, but they respected the hit as fans of Rugby League.

Then five minutes from time a defining moment. Dragons put in a high kick on their final tackle towards Tui and after what looked to be confusion after an impact in front of him, the ball was allowed to bound, the ball landed in the hands of a Dragons player, and he went over to scored what should have been a potentially winning try. But Chris Kendal pulled it back as Jerry had been pushed by one of the Catalans on rushers. The fans were in uproar, but more importantly, the Giants were still in front!

The decision seemed to give the Giants a new lease of life in the final five and in truth they were on top the entire time. Huddersfield’s dominance final paid off with only one minute on the clock.

The Giants won two back-to-back goal-line drops and on the second they worked the ball over the right, into the hands of Chris McQueen and fitting for Jubilee weekend, McQueen got the winning try.

A fantastic win for the Giants which saw the Dragons lose at home for the first time this season.

FT: Huddersfield Giants 22 – 14 Catalans Dragons.