Match report: Giants 16 - 14 Castleford Tigers

Jun 1 2009 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

It was from a towering kick from Chase that Castleford took a fourth-minute lead, when centre Shenton outjumped the defence to touch down.

But the introduction of prop Eorl Crabtree midway through the first half injected fresh impetus into the Giants’ attack as they finally got on top.

After Simon Finnigan had been denied a try when a Luke Robinson pass was ruled forward, the Giants drew level after 22 minutes thanks to Kevin Brown.

The stand-off collected 10m from the tryline, but he twisted and turned out of the two-man tackle to score his side’s first try and Brett Hodgson’s conversion edged them in front.

They missed a glorious chance to stretch their lead when centre Paul Whatuira broke clear from his own half to send winger David Hodgson away but, with Richard Owen bearing down on him, he chose to pass instead of going for the line and the supporting Robinson put it to ground.

Huddersfield lost centre Jamahl Lolesi with a head injury after 16 minutes but Wild proved a superb replacement after switching from the pack and was heavily involved as the Giants piled on the pressure.

The former Wigan forward was inches away from touching down David Faiumu’s grubber kick and then his pass to Aspinwall went to ground with the line beckoning.