Woolford: Giants only half as good as they should be
BOSS TRIES TO PINPOINT POOR FORM IN SECOND PERIODS
SO it’s played six, lost five for the Huddersfield Giants so far this season.
Thursday’s disappointing 40-12 home loss to leaders St Helens at the John Smith’s Stadium brought the Giants straight back down to earth after their victory against Wigan Warriors the previous week.
This game was also the second in a row at home where the opposition have nullified the Giants attack in the second half, and much like against Hull FC, Simon Woolford’s men were unable to get any points on the scoreboard after the break.
Why this has happened again is a mystery, however, head coach Woolford believes two factors may be causing the Giants to lose their way so rapidly in the second half.
He said: “It’s hard to pinpoint why it’s happening but I said to the guys it’s either two things: poor concentration or it doesn’t mean enough to them. It’s either one or the other.
“The disappointing thing at the moment is that we’ve got a lot of players missing and it’s not as if we can bring some in to replace some that aren’t achieving.
“I think it’s different with some certain individuals, I think with some it’s a bit of both.”
This second-half performance has been a major talking point and Woolford made his feelings very clear about why Giants conceded 24 points with no reply against Saints, who made it six wins from six this season.
“In the second half I just said to the guys, I think we made every schoolboy error possible,” said Woolford.
“We forced a pass in our own in-goal, we kicked out on the full, we threw a couple of silly offloads, we didn’t catch some kicks, our halves threw the ball to no one more often than not.
“St Helens are a good team. Their halves controlled that area well.
They suffocated us, put us under pressure and again, we weren’t good enough to halt that pressure and somehow turn it back around in our favour.
“We’re just not good enough at the moment, not a good enough team to do it.”
This result came just a week after Huddersfield defeated Wigan in an almost perfect away performance.
As a consequence, Thursday’s performance once again disappointed Woolford who has bemoaned his side’s inability to perform at a high level for a full eighty minutes.
“We haven’t played for eighty minutes. Last week we were fantastic, and we spoke about it all week what we wanted to do and how we were going to beat Saints.
“Firsthalf we did that I thought. Our forwards more than matched theirs and our intent was
It’s either two things: poor concentration or it doesn’t mean enough to
them.
great.
“First half they certainly didn’t roll through us.”
“But at the moment we’re in a position where we can’t afford to turn off for five, 10, 15 minutes during a game.”