Giants given reality check by Warriors
HUDDERSFIELD’S DREAM START TO SEASON TURNS INTO NIGHTMARE AGAINST RUTHLESS WIGAN SIDE
HUDDERSFIELD Giants’ unbeaten start to the season came to a very abrupt halt after a heavy defeat by Wigan Warriors.
A 15-minute blitz which saw the visitors score five tries, three courtesy of Liam Marshall, made all the difference at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Adam O’Brien scored Huddersfield’s only try on a disappointing afternoon.
A comedy of errors eight minutes into the game sparked this clash into life after a cagey opening.
Jackson Hastings’ kick hit Matty English in the face and after Wigan had seemingly mopped up the error, Zak Hardaker inexplicably dropped the ball, giving Jake Wardle a run at the line.
Unfortunately for Giants, their attack was subdued by the resolute Wigan defence and they came away from their most positive move thus far empty-handed.
However, just two minutes later and the deadlock was broken through an Aidan Sezer penalty, slap bang in the middle of the posts.
The visitors were then rewarded with a succession of penalties and looked to forge their first real opportunity of the afternoon.
They duly converted when Willie Isa bundled his way over the line despite having numerous Giants defenders around him.
Similar to Suaia Matagi’s try against Hull KR, the Wigan player was seemingly wrapped up but found a gap and the visitors went ahead 4-2 after Hardaker’s conversion went wide of the posts.
The Giants response was instant, however, when a huge hit from Matagi, straight from kick-off, regained the ball for the hosts.
After a couple of drives, Giants were then themselves rewarded with a penalty and Sezer coolly converted to equalise and ensure the hosts trailed for just two minutes.
A jinking run from Jordan Turner, followed up by a thunderous tackle from Jermaine McGillvary that forced a dropout, fired up the crowd in a first 30 minutes that was dominated by defence.
The supporters remained hot and when O’Brien slipped through the Wigan defence straight from dummy-half to score his second of the season, Giants were back on top.
A key catalyst of the try was an offload by James Gavet to Aaron Murphy which reinvigorated the Giants attack that looked like losing momentum.
As expected, the imperious Sezer converted for his third of the game and gave Giants a 10-4 lead.
However, the Claret and Gold’s captain soon found himself in trouble for a hightackle on Thomas Leulai, meaning he spent ten minutes in the sin-bin.
That was to prove very costly for Giants and the tide soon turned as the visitors claimed the advantage through Liam Marshall, who exploited the numbers game to score an acrobatic effort in the corner.
Wigan then scored their third try of the half when Sam Powell, taking note of his opposing number, scored from dummy-half.
Hardaker scored his first conversion of the