Match report: Giants 38 - 12 Rochdale Hornets
May 11 2009 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
A Simon Finnigan drive took the ball to the line and the impressive Shaun Lunt was quickly in at acting half-back to plunge over from close range.
And almost straight from the restart Hemingway sent Patrick charging away to beat the cover on a thrilling 30m run to the corner.
At 14-0 there already looked to be no way back for the struggling Hornets.
But all credit to Rochdale for refusing to wave the white flag.
Had it not been for the ball bouncing the wrong way from attacking kicks, the visitors could have registered a couple of tries before the break.
As it was, their half-chances went begging, while the Giants added two further tries in the final 10 minutes before the break to make it 26-0.
Within two minutes of coming on for his debut, Carlile dived over from dummy half after Eorl Crabtree’s strong run had taken him to the line.
Then with four minutes remaining Patrick scooped up a loose ball inside his 20, made valuable ground and then fed the supporting Jamahl Lolesi on halfway to beat the cover and score under the posts.
It got even worse for the Hornets within four minutes of the restart when Finnigan burst through a gap and fed the ever-alert Lunt to finish off with ease for Cudjoe to again goal and make it 32-0.
At that stage, it simply seemed a case of ‘how many?’ But how wrong that assessment turned out to be!
In the 52nd minute Rochdale deservedly opened their account when Mick Fogerty collected a high Martin Ainscough kick to score a try, converted by Chris Giles.
Then nine minutes later Ainscough scored himself from a Brett Robinson grubber and it was 32-12.
Huddersfield – and Lunt in particular – did have the final say when he completed his hat trick after good work from Hemingway.
Yet at the final hooter, this was one of those occasions when almost everyone went home happy, with their respective missions accomplished.
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