Match report: Giants 38 - 12 Rochdale Hornets

May 11 2009 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE Giants predictably booked their place in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup with a seven-try triumph over Rochdale.

But the Hornets claimed the moral victory with a gutsy display which should bode well for the rest of their Championship I campaign.

Despite languishing at the foot of the lowest tier of the professional rugby league ladder, coach Darren Shaw’s men made sure their Super League hosts knew they’d been in a game.

An initial Huddersfield onslaught suggested the tie might be a complete embarrassment, with the Giants racing into a 14-0 lead inside 12 minutes.

Despite the home side resting eight first-choice players and having two more on the injured list, the gulf in class in those opening exchanges was frightening.

But the more the contest progressed, the more the Hornets began to sting, culminating in a second-half display that made a mockery of the respective positions of the two teams in the game’s hierarchy.

After being 32-0 down after 44 minutes, the Lancastrians outscored the Yorkshiremen two tries to one to guarantee the Hornets left the field with heads held high.

For the Rochdale side, it was job well done as they avoided the humiliating defeat so many were predicted.

And, in a sense, it was also job well done for the Giants.

It may not have been slickest of performances from coach Nathan Brown’s men.

But the main objective of reaching the quarter-finals had been achieved, and a number of the club’s highly-promising youngsters were given a taste of life in the senior side – and acquitted themselves well.

Top of the list had to be hooker Keal Carlile, who had ton wait just two minutes to score his first senior try after coming on as a 18th-minute substitute!

It was also a special day for second-rower Larne Patrick, who scored his debut first-team try, while centre Josh Griffin also looked very impressive and almost grabbed a score after a 60m touchline run.

The tie also gave Tom Hemingway the chance to ease himself back into senior service after another injury-ruined pre-season. In fact, Hemingway had almost struck within five minutes, only to be denied by excellent last-ditch defence.

But a minute later, Luke Robinson broke through for the first time, showing superb pace to race over from 20m.

Leroy Cudjoe was unable to add the conversion, but made no mistake four minutes later as the Giants added try No2.