Inept Giants crash out in Cup shocker

Feb 10 2003 By Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Challenge Cup

Hunslet 18 - 14 Giants. EMBARRASSING Huddersfield Giants crashed out of the Challenge Cup at the first attempt - and, boy, did they deserve to go!

This appalling performance has to go down as the worst since Tony Smith took over as coach two-and-a-half years ago.

Nothing should be taken away from the magnificent heroics of Hunslet, who thoroughly deserved their moment of glory.

But there really is no excuse the Giants can use for producing a performance of such ineptitude.

It's almost laughable to think that this Huddersfield side would have made it a rugby league record of 30 successive victories on the trot had they triumphed.

They played more like a team that had lost their previous 29 games, more than one that had won them all!

And it's almost impossible to believe that during the course of last season, Huddersfield thrashed Hunslet on three separate occasions - 68-6, 60-4 and 40-0

So what's gone wrong in the space of a few months?

Obviously, Giants coach Tony Smith can point to the fact that he was fielding a new-look side who will need time to gel and was lacking several big-name players through injury in Stanley Gene, Steve McNamara, Anthony Colella, Jamie Bloem and Paul Reilly.

Yet there should still have been more than enough firepower in the Giants armoury to have blasted past the Hawks.