Giants fail to ignite as Dragons fire

CATALAN DEFEAT LEAVES HUDDERSFIELD’S SEASON IN NEED OF A KICK-START AFTER BACK-TO-BACK LOSSES

HUDDERSFIELD Giants have started the new Super League season with back-to-back defeats after being put to the sword by Catalans Dragons.

Brayden Wiliame and Sam Tomkins helped slay Simon Woolford’s men at the Stade Gilbert Brutus as the French side capitalised on a mixture of poor Giants play and good fortune to secure their first win of the season against a still injury-ravaged Huddersfield side.

Despite the defeat, last season’s top scorer, Darnell McInosh, put in a standout performance in the south of France.

After a fairly even start, with both sides trading sets of six, a penalty conceded by Dragons just 10 metres from goal proved fatal.

A few intricate passes later and the ball fell to Matt Frawley, who looked sharp in the opening stages.

The Australian’s dummy pass fully committed defenders and the half-back touched down under the posts to score his first try for Huddersfield.

Catalan equalised shortly after, however, when a short kick ricocheted off Izaac Farrell and fell kindly for Wiliame, who was adjudged by the video referee to have gotten his fingertips to the ball ahead of Darnell McIntosh and Tomkins, like Farrell previously, converted the try.

Just two minutes later, Giants’ Joe Wardle was dispossessed by Matt Whitley in his own half and Catalan capitalised by quickly shift- ing the ball out to the left where Wiliame was there to score his second of the game, coolly converted by Tomkins once again.

The lead could, and should, have been extended further but for a brilliant piece of defending from McIntosh.

A line-break from Wiliame left McIntosh chasing for 50 yards but somehow, despite Wiliame releasing the ball to Samisone Langi, McIntosh was able to single-handedly stop the Catalans attack and a certain try just metres from the line.

McIntosh’s efforts were in vain, however, as Catalan’s lead was then extended just five minutes before half-time as Lewis Tierney exploited an overlap out wide and scored a routine try down the right.

Tomkins, who had previously kicked a penalty, saw his effort hit the post and miss, leaving the half-time score 18-6 to the French outfit.

The second period took its time to spring into life after a series of injuries, including what appeared to be a knee problem for Farrell, who had to be substituted and did not feature for the rest of the game.

A less than action-packed second half looked like being a positive one for Giants, who had a promising line-break from McIntosh, and had it not been for the experienced Tomkins who ushered the Giants winger into touch, the visitors could have been right back into the game early on.

Tomkins added a penalty before scoring his first Catalan try in the 68th minute.

A high kick was allowed to bounce and after a series of flicks, including one off Frawley’s head, the ball landed into Tomkins’ path and he made no mistake in extending the lead for Dragons.

This didn’t signal the end of the scoring, however, as Oliver Roberts followed a Frawley kick and touched down to reduce the gap to 16 points. McIntosh, replacing Farrell on kicking duties, hit the post with his conversion attempt.