Relaxed Giants win in comfort

Feb 26 2001 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Giants 38 - 24 Doncaster

IT'S to be hoped the Giants show a considerable improvement in form before next Sunday's home Super League opener against Halifax Blue Sox and in the Challenge Cup quarter-final at St Helens the following week.

If they don't, coach Tony Smith's new-look Giants could be in for a very rude awakening.

The truth of the matter was that against Doncaster Dragons, Huddersfield were wholly unconvincing.

The final margin of victory over their Northern Ford Premiership opponents may have looked relatively comfortable.

But for much of the contest that was hardly the case.

Thankfully, the Giants had the man to make all the difference in winger Andrew Frew.

And, boy, did they need him!

His pace and finishing power was a joy to behold and few could argue that he deserved to be man-of-the-match.

He grabbed a second-half hat trick in the space of 17 minutes, and then added a fourth for good measure with nine minutes remaining to finally finish off the plucky visitors.

The joy among the home fans at seeing Frew finish off so superbly really was in complete contrast to the events of the opening 40 minutes when the Giants were given the roughest of rides.

Why that was the case is something coach Smith must discover as quickly as possible.

But his team really did look totally out of thoughts.

The only time the Giants seemed to get out of first gear was when Doncaster scored a try, which helped give them a timely kick up the backside.

Whether Huddersfield believed this was going to be a stroll or whether they were already thinking about the start of Super League a week later or, even, the quarter-final draw is impossible to tell.

But something just wasn't quite right.

And that made this tie all the more frustrating.

There was no doubting the superior all-round ability of the Giants, but they simply didn't appear to be able to get into a position to make it count.

All credit, of course, has to go to the Dragons who earned a tremendous amount of credit fortheir display.

Yet there was a feeling that if Huddersfield had been able to hit top form, this would have been a totally one-sided affair.

While Doncaster were quite clearly playing to their full potential, the Giants were playing anything but.

Tackles were being missed, passes were being dropped and wrong otpions were being taken.

Not surprisingly, that was reflected in a very narrow 16-14 half-time advantage to the home side.

There were early signs with strong charges from Ben Cooper and Frew that a relatively straightforward afternoon may be ahead.

And that was reinforced when the Giants took the lead in the 13th minute, albeit directly following a first scare.

Craig Weston's attempted tryscoring pass to Peter Edwards was adjudged forward, giving the Giants a scrum close to the line.

Dale Cardoza collected the ball at first receiver and immediately made ground before Martin Gleeson raced away and into the Doncaster 25.

Paul Rowley was up in support as quick as a flash had gathered from acting half-back to charge over for a try which Steve McNamara failed to convert.

By the 20th minute, however, Doncaster had hit the front when Latham Tawhai kicked ahead on the sixth tackle for former Giants captain Craig Weston, who impressed in his first game back at the McAlpine, to score the easiest of tries.

Ex-Huddersfield Rugby Union player-coach Simon Irving added the conversion and it was 6-4.

But the Giants' response couldn't have been more emphatic.

Ben Kusto's perfect kick-off was allowed to bounce in the field of play, forcing the Dragons to drop-out.

Within two plays Doncaster were penalised in front of their own posts, and rather than go for goal the home side ran the ball and Kusto was on hand to collect Chris Thorman's pass and glide over for McNamara to convert.

Again Doncaster hit back as Lynton Stott raced through for a second converted try to put the visitors in the lead for a second time.

A brilliant burst from the impressive David Lomax set up a third Giants try for Graham Appo, marvellously converted by McNamara in the 32nd minute, but Irving's penalty on the stroke of half-time left the game supebly balanced.

Yet by the 61st minute Frew had calmed the Giants' nerves.

Within four minutes of the restart he collected Gleeson's pass to score and three minutes later he backed up Thorman's dazzling break to receive a beautiful reverse pass and beat the cover to the line.

A Paul Mansson try briefly interrupted the flow before Frew resumed normal service.

First, he picked up a loose ball from a Weston kick-through to jink over to complete his hat trick in the 61st minute and then 10 minutes later he plunged over after Gleeson had won the fight to a high Kusto 'bomb'.

Although Tawhai added a final try two minutes from time the tie was already in the bag.

Huddersfield Giants Appo (Moxon 62mins, bb); Frew, Cardoza, Gleeson, Cooper; Thorman, Kusto; Molloy (Molyneux 28mins), Rowley, Laughton (Marshall 33mins), Lomax (Laughton 55mins), Atkins (Turner 52mins), McNamara

Tries - Frew (44mins, 47mins, 61mins, 71mins), Rowley (13mins), Kusto (24mins), Appo (32mins).

Goals - McNamara 5 from 7.

Doncaster Dragons - Stott; Garcia (Crouthers 74mins), Hall, Irving, Crouthers (Bennett 48mins); Weston, Tawhai; Amone (Hepi 40mins), Edwards, David (Lawton 71mins), Wilson (Miller 48mins), Bunyan, Mansson.

Tries - Weston (20mins), Stott (28mins), Mansson (53mins), Tawhai (78mins).

Goals - Irving 4 from 5.Half-time - 16-14.

Referee - Ian Smith (Oldham).

Attendance - 2,176.

Scrums won - Huddersfield 6, Doncaster 6.

Penalties conceded - Huddersfield 7, Doncaster 9.

Top Huddersfield tacklers - Thorman 22, Rowley 22, Laughton 18, Gleeson 18.

Silk Cut Man-of-the-match - Andrew Frew (Huddersfield).