One of the best yet!

Mar 17 2001 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

St Helens 44 - Giants 22.

HUDDERSFIELD Giants are on the up. Make no mistake about that!

Coach Tony Smith's side earned credit across the board for their battling Challenge Cup display at St Helens a week ago.

But they earned even more praise for their efforts on their Knowsley Road Super League return last night.

Quite simply, this was one of their best performances since their elevation into the top flight four years ago.

Ok, the Giants may have been beaten by the world champions by a 22-point margin, but that doesn't tell the full story.

It's no exaggeration to say that on another day the visitors could have won this contest.

There were periods in the game when the Giants outplayed their illustrious hosts, playing with spirit, commitment and no shortage of skill.

However, one crucial commodity was once again sadly lacking - luck.

The bounce of the ball always seemed to favour Saints, while a similar observationcould again be levelled at the match officials.

On three occasions the Giants appeared to have scored tries, only to have them ruled out by either referee or touchjudge.

Twice in the first half the unfortunate Martin Gleeson was thwarted by debatable calls.

First, following an apparent Chris Thorman forward pass, and then after he looked to have dived under heavy traffic on the line but was adjudged to have lost the ball.

They were tough decisions to say the least, and the fact that Gleeson was still unhappy about the rulings long after the game had finished spoke volumes.

But he was not alone in feeling aggrieved.

Ben Kusto suffered a similar fate when he received an excellent inside pass from Thorman in the 77th minute and plunged over by the posts.

The referee was on the spot to give the try until a touchjudge intervened and ruled Thorman's pass had been fractionally forward.

Yet another cruel blow, and one that Kusto - who encouragingly was having more of an influence on the game by the minute - didn't deserve.

However, among thebitter-tasting moments of agony, there were many moments of magic.

And once again it was the first-half display that set the scene.

A week ago, the Giants were well satisfied to be restricting St Helens to 18-10 at the interval.

But last night, they were bitterly disappointed to be trailing 16-12 - courtesy, of course, of the officials.

Although the Giants found themselves 10-0 behind by the 23rd minute after conceding tries to Paul Newlove and Kevin Iro and a Sean Long goal, the visitors had given Saints a serious examination in defence.

And by the 28th minute they at last gained their reward.

A perfect high kick to the corner on the sixth tackle by Thorman was plucked out of the sky by the impressive Andrew Frew, who immediately fed the supporting Mark Moxon to score his first ever Super League try.

Steve McNamara converted to make it 10-6.

Despite Tim Jonkers powering over by the posts for a 33rd minute converted try, the visitors remained in the hunt and two minutes later scored a spectacular second, courtesy of the amazing Frew.

If anyone doubts the claims that Frew is fastest man in Super League, forget it.

The way he broke past his marker on halfway, beat the cover and then rounded Paul Wellens to scorch over was simply breathtaking, with the generous applause from the stunned Saints fans saying it all.

McNamara then added a magnificent touchline conversion to set up a mouth-watering second half.

Despite WayneMcDonald powering over two minutes after the restart, the Giants were undaunted and when Paul Rowley's sharp pass sent Brandon Costin crashing over for another converted try in the 59th minute it was anyone's contest.

Crucially, however, St Helens  had just enough energy left in the tank, with Sean Hoppe and Iroscoring two tries in a four-minute spell midway through the half to open up a 14-point gap.

Frew gave some renewed hope when he capitalised on Anthony Sullivan's fumble of a Thormancross-kick to score his second in the 68th minute to reduce the gap to 10 points.

But in the final five minutes Steve Hall and Long grabbed tries to give a final scoreline that was hardly deserved.

This was clearly the Giants playing at a far better level.

Match Facts:
St Helens - Wellens;  Hoppe, Iro, Newlove (Stewart 70 mins), Sullivan; Martyn, Long; Nickle (Fairleigh 54 mins), Cunningham, Fairleigh (McDonald 33 mins), Joynt (Hall 63 mins), Shiels (Stankevitch 42mins), Jonkers.
Tries: Newlove (5 mins), Iro (23 mins & 62 mins), Jonkers (33 mins), McDonald (42 mins), Hoppe (58 mins), Hall (75 mins), Long (79 mins).
Goals: Long 6 from 8
Huddersfield Giants: Cooper; Frew, Gleeson, Costin, Cardoza; Thorman, Moxon (Kusto 33 mins bb); Molloy (Marshall 33 mins), Rowley, Laughton (Molyneux 25 mins, Molloy 65 mins), Lomax (Turner 60 mins), Atkins (Laughton 65 mins), McNamara.
Tries: Moxon (28 mins), Frew (35 mins & 68 mins), Costin (49 mins)
Goals: McNamara 3 from 4
Half-time: 16-12

Referee: Ian Smith (Oldham).
Attendance: 7,275
Scrums won: St Helens 15, Huddersfield 11
Penalties conceded: St Helens 4, Huddersfield 7
Top Huddersfield tacklers:  Marshall 22, Lomax 18, Atkins 18