Gareth Lewis believes his young Huddersfield side will benefit from the experience of doing battle with the likes of National League II North pacesetters Hull Ionians.
Player-coach Lewis’s mid-table team reached the half-way stage of their campaign with a 29-14 defeat to the red-hot title favourites at Lockwood Park.
But even though Huddersfield just missed out on collecting a losing bonus point, Lewis felt there were far more positives than negatives to come out of the contest.
“It’s obviously disappointing to lose any game, but a defeat to Hull Ionians certainly isn’t the end of the world,” said Lewis, who helped guide his club back into National II North following last season’s promotion-winning campaign.
“They’re very strong in the pack and boast the Yorkshire county front row, and that showed in this game.
“But you shouldn’t forget they’ve got 10 years on our boys, and that makes a huge difference at this level, so in that respect I was really encouraged with the effort everyone put in. I thought we defended the driving maul very well.
“A lot of this team are still learning their trade at this level, and games like the one against Hull Ionians will stand them in very good stead in the future. They will be better for this.
“Ionians were always going to play to their strengths in the pack, but I thought our backs matched them throughout.
“We also felt as a group that the referee didn’t help us much either. With the inconsistency he was showing, it felt like a bit of a lottery out there, and we were always the ones missing out.
“That did make it tougher, but all credit to the boys for keeping going.”
