HEROIC Huddersfield Giants have moved up to third in the Super 8s table with a win at St Helens which was packed full of guts and determination.
And after moving above Saints with a first victory of the season against one of the three sides that finished above them at the end of the regular campaign, confidence must be higher than ever as the season draws to what could be a magnificent conclusion.
Despite giving their hosts so many opportunities to take the game away from them due to their indiscipline and relative high error rate, the Giants dug deep to notch a vital victory.
With the character shown on the night, a first Super League Grand Final appearance at Old Trafford is definitely not beyond the realms of possibility.
With Saints smarting from their 32-22 home defeat to Hull FC six days earlier and a public roasting from coach Keiron Cunningham in the immediate aftermath, there was always expected to be a rally reaction from the home side.
And within 10 minutes that proved the case as Kyle Amor crashed through a crowd of defenders to score under the posts.
Luke Walsh converted and Saints looked in the mood.
But the Giants were having none of it.
Instead of the hosts building on their early advantage, it was Huddersfield who became the dominant force.
By the 14th minute the sides were level after a cracker of an individual try from Jamie Ellis.
From a scrum on the St Helens 20, the half-back collected the ball, shot through a gap and went round full-back Adam Quinlan to cross for a try under the posts, which Danny Brough had no trouble converting.
And five minutes later the visitors had hit the front.
It all came about on the back of a great break on halfway from Leroy Cudjoe, who clearly looked confident following the signing of a new five-year contract.
With play taken deep inside Saints territory and the hosts on the back foot, the position was eventually created for Brough to feed Ukuma Ta’ai to finish off from 5m.
Brough again goaled and then followed up with a penalty to extend his side’s advantage to 14-6 in the 25th minute.
Unfortunately, from then on, the half was back in St Helens’ hands.
With the Giants starting to make basic errors and referee Richard Silverwood penalising every indiscretion at every opportunity, Huddersfield were put under incredible goalline pressure.
They held out for six penalties and a drop-out, but when Michael Lawrence was sin-binned for offside after his side had been placed on a team warning, the defence finally crashed with a minute remaining as James Roby stretched out to score.
Walsh again added the extras, and at 14-12 to the Giants the game hung in the balance.
But within four minutes of the restart and with Lawrence still in the bin, the Giants found the perfect response as Joe Wardle collected a ball from close range, rolled out of the tackle and just did enough to touch down for a try, confirmed by video referee Ben Thaler.
Brough added his fourth goal of the night and the lead was back up to eight. Yet such was the increasingly see-saw nature of the contest that it was no great surprise when Saints were the next to strike as Mark Percival’s long pass on the last play found Tommy Makinson to finish off in the corner
Walsh saw his touchline conversion bounce out off a post to make it 20-16 with 32 compelling minutes still to play. And just two minutes later the scores were level when Makinson and Percival combined from a high ball to the corner for Travis Burns to cross in the corner for a second unconverted score.
Saints were well and truly back in the ascendancy. A 55th-minute Walsh penalty after Brough failed to find touch with an attempted tap 20 kick proved enough to nudge Saints back ahead.
Almost inevitably, though, Huddersfield then found the way to regain the advantage when Ellis and Cudjoe worked superbly to feed McGillvary to finish strongly in the corner.
Brough couldn’t find the mark, and it was 24-22 to the Giants.
The skipper then turned down a straightforward penalty moments later.
But that decision proved spot-on with 12 minutes remaining when the blindside was worked for Wardle to throw a wonderful long pass out to Aaron Murphy to stroll over.
Again Brough was off target, although the lead was crucially up to a converted score.
With nine minutes remaining, Murphy spilled a ball with a clear run to the line as the wet conditions began to cause both sides problems.
Had the winger crossed for his second, then the game would surely have been over. Instead, the final few minutes couldn’t have been more nervy, with video ref Thaler ruling out a Roby ‘try’ for a knock-on in the 77th minute.
And that was Saints’ final chance.
This night was all about the Giants and a glorious away victory.
