Match report: Huddersfield Giants 28 - 20 Castleford Tigers

Jan 19 2009 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

FULL OF PROMISE!

NATHAN BROWN’S reign at the Giants has started with a victory.

And there was more than enough to suggest during the convincing 28-14 pre-season triumph at Castleford Tigers that it could be the first of many.

The Giants looked fitter, faster, stronger and sharper than their Super League hosts, and it was only in the final quarter when Brown introduced wholesale changes that the Tigers enjoyed any real success.

By the hour mark, Huddersfield had cruised almost effortlessly into a 28-4 lead, and if the Giants’ so-called ‘big guns’ had been kept on the field, who knows what the final scoreline may have been.

But, as Brown was keen to point out, the purpose of this exercise was for him to see as many players as possible ‘live’ for the first time, and he never deviated from that objective.

By the time the final hooter had sounded, the new Galpharm chief had seen 24 of his players in action, including top Academy prospects Greg Worthington and Greg Johnson, who earned their calls on the back of the Giants’ Reserves’ 26-12 pre-season defeat at full-strength Oldham on the Friday night.

Exactly how much extra Brown will have learned about each of these players on the back of this run-out is hard to tell.

Yet it’s safe to assume most of them will have been positive, particularly in the opening 40 minutes.

With the forwards laying such a solid platform for the half-back combination of Kevin Brown and Luke Robinson to work so effectively, the Giants back line were a constant threat.

Brown’s kicking game, in particular, proved a very useful weapon, while the darting runs of Robinson created no end of problems for the under-pressure Castleford defence.

In a sense, therefore, the only disappointment at the half-time interval was that the Giants’ lead was just 12-0, such had been their dominance.

Within two minutes, Brown’s new-look side had shown their capabilities as the impressive Stephen Wild plunged over in the corner on the back of some exquisite work from Brown.

Then, 15 minutes later, some excellent inter-play between Leroy Cudjoe and Paul Whatuira created the opening for David Hodgson to score in the opposite corner.