HUDDERSFIELD Giants' stars of tomorrow had a taste of just how tough it is to face the world's best when they took on crack Australian team Wests Tigers Under 18s.

A 50-16 final scoreline summed up just how dominant the tourists were against the Galpharm club's Junior Academy side.

But there were still periods in the game when the Huddersfield youngsters gave it a real go.

Most of the damage was done in the opening quarter yesterday as Wests raced into a 28-0 lead through tries from Kingi Akauola, Dean Webster, Ben Falcone, Simon Dwyer and Mitchell Achurch, with Luke Kelly landing four goals.

The Giants simply had no answer to the pace, power, support play and amazing off-loading abilities of the Tigers.

And it looked as if the in-form Australians were going to get close to the 66-0 score rattled up against Harlequins in the capital on Friday.

Fortunately, however, it was then that the Giants finally came to life.

All of a sudden, they shook off the rustiness of not having played a competitive game for more than a month and began to threaten their opponents' dominance.

In the 26th minute, Wests were forced to drop out from under their own posts and three minutes later Michael Lawrence was held up on the line.

But seconds later, a smart Leroy Cudjoe kick-through rebounded off Nathan Fiti and the stand-off followed through to score by the posts.

Luke Broady converted, and the Laund Hill crowd had something to savour at last.

It got even better three minutes before the break as the Giants cut the deficit to 28-12.

Broady made it all possible, chipping ahead on halfway for Luke George to gather, brush past full-back Dane Gernhoefer and race in for another converted score.

Wests did resume control in the second half, adding further tries from Falcone, Webster and Achurch, who crossed twice to complete his hat trick.

But the Giants were rewarded with a super 65th-minute score of their own when hooker Matthew Whittaker sent Craig Williams charging through a hole to score by the posts.

It was no more than the Giants deserved.

They may have been beaten, but they were far from disgraced.

Giants: Heeley; Gorman, Lawrence, George, Lopag; Cudjoe, Broady; Lawson, Whittaker, Roberts, Housley, Martin, Donlan. Subs: Williams, Wilson, Dobbs, McGuire, Prendergast.

Wests Tigers:Gernhoefer; Goodsir, Dwyer, Achurch, Frueran; Jack, Kelly; Adams, Falcone, Stolk, Webster, Shea, Austin. Subs: Dunley, Omar, Leha, Fiti, Akauola.