First-day win is great tonic

Dec 10 2001 By Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Dragons 4 - 20 Giants. BATTLING Huddersfield Giants were forced to call on all their reserves of grit and determination to gouge out an excellent opening-day triumph at Doncaster Dragons.

It may not have been the prettiest of wins, with the home side doing everything within their power to spoil a Giants' opening-day party, but who cared!

After losing on the opening day of the season in the last four years in Super League, it was just so refreshing to start a campaign on a winning note.

And even though the Dragons, who are viewed by many as serious play-off contenders, put up some brave resistance, the out- come was never really in any doubt.

Apart from scoring their one try, which only came courtesy of Paul Mansson intercepting Adam Hayes' pass inside Doncaster's 25 with 15 minutes remaining, the home side hardly looked like scoring.

In fact, the most serious threat to the Giants registering a win was the weather.

Had the fog been any worse, the game would surely have been called off.

Visibility seriously restricted the viewing of those who braved the conditions and by the end of the contest picking out players became a real lottery.

Yet that certainly didn't bother the large band of travelling Huddersfield supporters who made up at least half of the 2,060 crowd.

They had come to see their side open the campaign in triumph, and were able to return home happy.

And the fact that the Giants were unable to fire on all cylinders but still take the points must bode well for the future.

Despite long periods of possession, the visitors were only 4-0 ahead at the break, although it would be wrong not to compliment the Doncaster defence for that.

Steve McNamara and Johnny Woodcock had both missed penalty attempts in the opening 10 minutes and it was not until the 29th minute that the Giants' pressure eventually paid off.

Chris Langley's probing run took him close to the hosts' line and the ball was then quickly worked to the right for Chris Thorman to send the on-rushing Rob Roberts crashing over for Huddersfield's first try of the new campaign.

McNamara missed the conversion and Woodcock was unable to land a penalty as the goalkickers failed to come to terms with the misty conditions.

Yet a four-point interval lead meant there was still everything to play for.

Doncaster opened the second half strongly, forcing the Giants to drop-out from under their posts within a minute.

But once the visitors had weathered the storm, they began to build up their matchwinning lead.

A relieving break out of defence from Ben Cooper in the 47th minute set the ball rolling, and a minute later the lead had been doubled.

An excellently weighted high kick to the corner from McNamara caused problems in the Dragons' defence and Langley was on hand to gallop over for a second converted score.

The Giants were now getting into the grove and eight minutes later they scored the try of the game.

Mark Moxon's lovely short pass sent Mick Slicker charging through a gap.

He found the supporting Thorman, and he in turn fed livewire hooker Paul March who beat the cover to score a classic try under the posts and crown an excellent first full debut for the club.

McNamara added the extras and victory already looked assured.

Hopes of nilling the opposition were thwarted in the 65th minute with Mansson's long-range effort, and to add to the disappointment a brawl which was taking place in back play was placed on report by referee Ian Smith.

But it was no great surprise when the Giants added a fourth try in the final seconds.

And it was fitting that it should be Paul Reilly who was celebrating the scoring of the try.

The exciting full-back looked sharp on attack throughout and he was on hand to pounce on McNamara's kick-through and score to put the icing on the cake.

A tricky first hurdle had been overcome, although there are still plenty more to follow.

Match Facts

Doncaster Dragons Baker; Woodcock, Golden, Garcia, Lee (Colton 53mins); Mansson, Handley (Conway 25mins, bb, rev 34mins); Fielden (Forsyth 28mins, Handford 61mins), Green, Handford (Ramskill 40mins, Fielden 56mins), Atter, Lawton, Moana.

Try - Mansson (65mins).

Goals - Woodcock 0 from 3.

Huddersfield Giants - Reilly; Langley, Crabtree, Cooper (Foster 70mins), O'Hare; Thorman, Moxon; Slicker (Wittenberg 25mins), March, Molyneux (Rice 34mins), Atkins (Slicker 55mins), Roberts (Hayes 64mins), McNamara.

Tries - Roberts (29mins), Langley (48mins), March (56mins), Reilly (79mins).

Goals - McNamara 2 from 5.

Half-time - 0-4.

Referee - Ian Smith (Oldham).

Attendance - 2,060.

Scrums won - Doncaster 8, Huddersfield 9.

Penalties conceded - Doncaster 4, Huddersfield 7.

Top Huddersfield tacklers - March 30, McNamara 29, Wittenberg 21 in 55mins, Thorman 21.

Next Giants game - Home to Sheffield Eagles on Sunday (3.00).