DANNY BROUGH found the perfect response to being left out of the England Origin side by inspiring the Huddersfield Giants to a first Super League success in six attempts.
The in-form half-back was at the heart of all of the Giants’ best work as Huddersfield put the toughest of times behind them with an eight-try demolition job on the struggling London Broncos.
Coach Nathan Brown’s men may not have been firing on all cylinders, but they certainly took some steps back in the right direction.
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And if Brough can maintain this sort of form and his teammates continue to show an all-round improvement, then there could still be a big finish to the year.
The Giants got off to the worst possible start, conceding a try after just five minutes.
After conceding two quick penalties for high shots, the position was created for the ball to be worked to the London right for Michael Robertson to finish neatly in the corner, too far out for Craig Gower to add the conversion.
In those initial exchanges, the home side looked distinctly nervy, clearly desperate to end their losing run.
But as the game wore on, the Giants began to settle down and by the 15th minute had opened up a 12-4 lead.
They struck first in the 12th minute when Luke George collected from a scrum on his own 20, broke through the first line of defence, shrugged off the attention of a second defender and then had the pace to beat the cover and score by the posts. Brough's goal made it 6-4.
The Broncos kicked the ball dead from the re-start and from the subsequent attacking set, superb approach play created the position for Brough to use all his vision to kick through for Kevin Brown to score with ease.
Brough’s goal doubled his side’s tally.