Match report: Huddersfield Giants 10 - 14 Warrington Wolves

Mar 1 2010 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Giants v Warrington match report

NATHAN BROWN must be sick of the sight of Tony Smith’s Warrington Wolves!

Last season, Brown’s Giants were beaten by the Wire in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley and also suffered their heaviest defeat of 2009, going down 40-18 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in May.

And that frustrating Warrington record has continued with a bruising 14-10 Galpharm defeat in a contest that really could have gone either way.

Both teams had more than enough chances to take the honours.

But in the end it was Chris Hicks’ solitary second-half effort that made all the difference in the world and condemned the Giants to their second defeat in four Super League XV starts.

Hopes had been high Huddersfield would have enough firepower to see off a Warrington side beaten 22-20 at home to Wigan in what was by far the most physical and demanding fixture of the season so far.

Such was the nature of that contest that the big question was whether the Wolves could rise again against a Giants side that had cruised to a 30-0 victory at Hull KR seven days before.

It didn’t take too long to get an answer – and for the home side it wasn’t the one they wanted.

Within three minutes, Warrington hit the front as Huddersfield conceded their first points in almost 100 minutes of top-flight action.

Great handling along the line opened up the Giants defensive ranks and the impressive Matt King was on hand to take full advantage to score a try converted by Richie Myler.

But, thankfully, that proved a wake-up call for the hosts, with stand-off Kevin Brown pulling all the strings.

His magical solo break from 40m out set his side on the way, creating the opportunity for Luke Robinson and Paul Whatuira to take the play to the line.

Only King’s last-ditch tackle on Whatuira prevented the New Zealand Test centre from scoring but, with the Wolves stretched, the ball was quickly worked to the left for Brown to dummy his way over.

Brett Hodgson was unable to add the conversion, but the captain made no mistake six minutes later as the Giants hit the front for the first and only time on the back of a second cracking score.