SO TIMID WOLVES
Powell can’t believe it as his side suffer trademark collapse to lose
Huddersfield 32 Warrington 22
DARYL POWELL’S terrible season took another turn for the worse as his Wolves self-destructed again. Third-bottom Warrington looked in control midway through the second half with an eight-point lead.
But forward Joe Bullock’s sin-binning for blocking off the ball plunged them into a collapse that is becoming a Wolves trademark.
Huddersfield scored two tries while Bullock was off the pitch, to take the lead for the first time, and then cruised home with a further try.
Powell (below), whose side are only four points clear of bottom club Toulouse, moaned: “If there is any luck about, it is bad luck and that is pretty much all we are getting at the moment.” Star man George Williams was out on game day with a migraine but Powell said: “I am not making excuses. The fight is there. We are doing lots of good things but we are not getting the two points.
“But when we get our lights put out they get put out pretty quick which is the disappointing thing.
“It’s deja vue which is tough to take. We did some really good things but we have to defend better.”
Victory ended back-to-back losses for Giants to delight coach Ian Watson, who said: “Warrington were playing not to lose. We spoke at half-time about how, over the last few weeks, they crumbled on the back of a bit of pressure.”
Three times, Huddersfield trailed by eight points but the title contenders showed resilience Warrington can only dream of.
Watson added: “At
8-0 down, on the back of two losses, it can unnerve teams but we showed composure and we got there in the end.” New full-back signing Matt Dufty looked lively for Wolves but went off with a foot injury that could rule him out of next Friday’s game at
Wigan. The Aussie helped Wolves to a 12-10 half-time lead with a Jacob Wardle try and four Stefan Ratchford goals.
Huddersfield replied courtesy of tries from Ash Golding and Adam O’brien, with one Oli Russell conversion.
Matty Ashton intercepted a Will Pryce pass to stretch Warrington’s lead but
Huddersfield hung in with a Josh Jones touchdown. A second try from winger Ashton gave Warrington an eight-point lead again but then Bullock blundered.
Innes Senior pounced for a try and Pryce made up for his earlier error with a superb try to nudge Giants’ lead.
Owen Trout try rounded off the win, with Russell taking his goal tally to four from six.