Giants boosted by Cup victory

Feb 12 2001 Match Verdict by Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Giants 28 - 6 Featherstone. A FIRST potentially tricky hurdle for coach Tony Smith's new-look Giants has been successfully overcome.

It may not have been the most fluent of performances, but for an opening competitive run-out it did produce the desired result.

Defensively, the Giants looked as solid as a rock and Smith was understandably delighted with that aspect of the play.

On attack, however, there is still massive room for improvement.

It bore all the hallmarks of a side that was desperately in need of serious match practice, and it's safe to assume that between now and the fifth-round tie with Doncaster Dragons at the McAlpine, working on improving their attack will be the main objective.

There were times against Featherstone when there seemed to be hardly any cohesion in the Giants' play.

Passes went to ground, passes were attempted at the wrong time and some of the plays broke down all too rapidly.

The fact that Rovers played well above themselves must not be overlooked, nor must the wet conditions which made the contest more of a leveller.

But the overriding feeling was that Huddersfield could have done so much better.

So, in that respect, yesterday's display must be regarded in a positive light.

Had the Giants played as many matches as Featherstone they would have been far sharper and more clinical in executing their plays.

This was never more apparent than in the gilt-edged chance that went begging midway through the opening half.

Under normal circumstances, centre Martin Gleeson would have fed Graham Appo a perfectly-executed pass for the new Australian recruit to collect and race away to score.

But on this occasion Gleeson's pass went behind the full-back and straight into touch.

It was a clear sign of the rustiness of the players and the understanding that has still to be established between the many new teammates.

That would have given the Giants the opening score in what turned out to be a tense first half-hour.

Ben Kusto and David Atkins had both been held just short in an early Huddersfield onslaught.

But as the game progressed Featherstone found their feet and began to mount a serious challenge.

Stuart Dickens failed to give Rovers the lead with a relatively straight-foward 13th-minute penalty attempt and Richard Chapman and Gavin Morgan both created anxiety in the Giants' defence.

Yet the turning point came after 30 minutes and, perversely, worked in the home side's favour.

The sin-binning and placing on report of Kusto for a late challenge on Andy Bastow should have breathed new life intoFeatherstone.

Instead, it signalled the begining of the Giants' victory charge.

Within two minutes of the scrum-half's departure Chris Thorman had kicked to the corner for Silk Cut man-of-the-match Andrew Frew to race away, pick up the ball and dive under the defender to score in the corner.

Steve McNamara was unable to add the conversion, but that counted for little given the relief being felt by all of the home contingent.

Yet better was to follow just three minutes later when Appo's elusive attacking skills mesmerised the visitors' defence and paved the way for Thorman to feed McNamara for the second.

That helped give Huddersfield an 8-0 lead and, even at that stage of the contest, there seemed to be no way back for the visitors, particularly as they were already tiring visibly against much stronger and fitter full-time opposition.

Their plight was made even worse within a minute of the restart when the Giants added try No3.

A high Thorman kick was fumbled by the Featherstone defence and Richard Marshall took full advantage by picking up the pieces and taking the play to the Rovers' line.

With the visitors stretched to the very limit, the ball was quickly and efficiently popped up for Kusto to score by the posts.

McNamara made no mistake this time around and at 14-0 Smith's men were strolling.

Further pressure kept Featherstone on the back foot and 12 minutes later came the try of the game.

It was half-back Kusto who made it all possible, dummying to pass to Thorman and racing through the gap that had opened up in front of him before feeding the supporting Appo to finish in great style.

McNamara again added the extras to extend the lead to 20 points.

His penalty on the hour after the ball had been stolen illegally from Appo gave Huddersfield an even greater cushion.

But all cerdit to the Northern Ford Premiership side for not throwing in the towel.

With 12 minutes remaining their efforts were rewarded when Chapman scorched over for a try, converted by Dickens, after Appo had failed to de-fuse a superb Richard Gibson `bomb'.

It was, however, hardly a surprise that it was the Giants who ended the contest on top, scoring the final try in the 74th minute when Dale Cardoza was on the end of a piece of wizardy from Thorman who then added the final conversion off a post to complete the day's work.