Nine-try feast is easy romp

Feb 18 2002 By Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

But after consulting with his touchjudge, Smith awarded the try and Huddersfield were 14-0 ahead after 18 minutes.

That lead was extended to 20 points in the 25th minute when Wittenberg crashed over from a tap penalty close to the line and Thorman added his second conversion.

A Craig Dean break from deep then gave Swinton a small glimmer of hope.

But the Giants' response was emphatic.

Thorman collected from a scrum 15 yards from the home side's line, ran across the face of the defence and fed Ben Cooper who in turn presented Whittaker with the simplest of tries.

At 24-0 up at the break, the points were already in the bag.

An early second-half scare which forced O'Hare to pull off an excellent try-saving tackle on former Huddersfield rugby union man Hugh Thorpe provided a timely wake-up call, and the Giants were soon responding.

Within two minutes Hayes had gathered a loose Karl Fitzpatrick pass and raced 30 metres to score.

And six minutes later Stanley Gene showed tremendous speed to outpace the Swinton defence after intercepting a Dean pass on halfway.

Thorman again goaled to make it four for the day and was immediately handed a rest.

In his absence, Hayes continued to come to the fore and his strong surge provided the opening for Graeme Hallas to finish off and add the extras.