MATCH REPORT | MATTY ENGLISH TESTIMONIAL

Huddersfield Giants opened their 2026 campaign with a 22-4 victory over York Knights in pre-season at the Accu Stadium.

Luke Robinson handed unofficial debuts to Chris Patolo, Asher O'Donnell and Mathieu Cozza in our first pre-season game, and both Chris and Asher started and made an early impression.

Both sides went set for set, until some magic from Tui Lolohea saw him step through Nikau Williams and send a looping pass into the hands of Sam Halsall who crossed in the corner.

Another score came soon after, as a deft kick from the returning Adam Clune, captaining the side for the fist time, saw his kick collected by Sam Hewitt who crashed over, Liam Sutcliffe converting to give us a 10-0 lead.

Niall Evalds then was the benefactor of some excellent work from Lolohea, who spotted another gap on the right hand side and sent the full-back racing away to score.

Liam Sutcliffe converted from the touchline and we led 16-0 going into the break.

Flanagan replaced Evalds as the second 40 started, and he won a penalty instantly, taking on the Knights line, but an error stopped our progress 20m out.

Ben Jones-Bishop, the veteran winger would grab York's only score of the afternoon, an experienced finish in the corner after numerous offloads, something the Giants will want to work on going into the season.

Another chance came the Giants way, after we were awarded a six again in the centre of the park, and Clune, who was instrumental all afternoon, sent George King crashing through and he scored.

The last fifteen minutes were built on solid defence, with a particular eye catching one-on-one tackle from Sam Halsall who sent Scott Galeano into touch, to protect our lead.

The final hooter sounded, and it was a special victory for Matty English who ran out 22-4 winners in the testimonial game for a stalwart of the Huddersfield Giants.

TRIES

Halsall, Hewitt, Evalds, King

GOALS

Sutcliffe 2/3 - Flanagan 1/1