Huddersfield Giants will have to wait another year for a trip to Wembley in the Challenge Cup after a sixth-round 48-16 destruction at the hands of Leeds.
At this juncture the well-worn cliché is that at least the Giants can concentrate on the league, but the surprising factor was the acute concentration that has been the trademark of Huddersfield’s recent Super League displays was missing.
Unbeaten in their last four Super League games, it has been the dedicated application to defence that has been to the Giants’ success – especially in the away wins at Hull FC and Salford Red Devils.
Leeds were supposedly slipping in recent games, but the Giants ended up on the wrong end of a very one-sided contest.
Players from both camps made the point in the build-up to the game that being quickly out of the blocks would matter, and the Giants were left staring at the equivalent of a Usain Bolt sprint as Leeds ripped away in the first quarter of the match.
By the 20-minute mark the Rhinos were 22 points in front and the Giants, despite having hit back from a similar position in their recent Super League draw at home against Leeds, this time looked well off the pace.
Perhaps key to the outcome were the fortunes of the players returning to action.
The Giants had England international second row Brett Ferres back after injury, which allowed Joe Wardle to return to his role as centre.
However, it was in the centre of the field and who controlled play that mattered and the comeback performance of Kevin Sinfield was quite simply commanding.
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If Leeds idea was to negate the threat of Giants playmaker Danny Brough they achieved that not so much by targeting the Huddersfield half-back but by turning up the heat and by-passing him with some very smart handling every time they were in possession – and that was most of the first half.
The other big factor was the return of Ryan Hall after a wrist injury and his threat on the wing, allied to Kallum Watkins moving back to centre. As Sinfield acted as the conductor the Leeds attack essentially had the Giants chasing shadows.
Watkins claimed the first two tries and Hall another as Leeds cut loose, and Aiton’s 19th-minute effort seemed to have decided the contest.
Four minutes before half-time Kyle Wood gave the Giants some hope that the second half could be a similar tide towards one end of the ground – sadly that scenario failed to unfold.
By the time Scott Grix went in for the Giants’ third try – Ferres having marked his comeback with a neatly-taken touchdown – they had already shipped in over 40 points as the Challenge Cup holders had ensured the first step in defending their crown had been successfully completed.
So, time to concentrate on the league and the Giants now have every reason to set their sights on reaching their first Grand Final.
