Woeful display in shock defeat

Feb 11 2002 By Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Doncaster 30 - Giants 10. OUTCLASSED, outplayed, out-thought and out- muscled.

Those were the sorry facts from a woeful performance from the previously unbeaten Giants in this fourth round Cup-tie.

It was as if the dark days of Super League had come back to haunt the long-suffering Huddersfield faithful as they witnessed their side finishing a very distant second once again.

But at least in Super League, the Giants were usually expected to fall by the wayside.

This season, the stories are expected to have a completely different plot when they take on teams from the same division.

And until yesterday that has generally been the case.

But yesterday was different, very different.

Doncaster were quite simply superior in every department.

Coach St John Ellis is moulding together a very useful squad, with all his main players - such as Marty Moana, Paul Mansson, Jason Lee, Marvin Golden and man-of-the-match Gareth Handforth - firing on all cylinders.

Yet the Giants should still have possessed enough armoury to have been able to edge past their fired-up hosts.

The fact they didn't was down to a combination of factors, with a touch of complacency possibly one of the vital ingredients.

Until now, the Giants have had almost everything their own way.

They are sitting proudly at the top of the NFP table, having suffered the loss of just one League point up at Whitehaven.

And in the previous three games they had conceded just two tries.

It was all looking a little too easy.

But against the Dragons they were handed a real shock to the system, and were unable to respond decisively to the challenge.

If anything positive is to come out of this debacle, it has to be the tremendous kick up the backside a defeat like this will have given the players.

This may be just the wake-up call the Giants need as they prepare for the vital NFP clashes ahead.

If it doesn't, they could be in big trouble.

Doncaster have shown the rest of the sides in the competition that Huddersfield can be beaten, and beaten convincingly.