It was hardly a sparkling display to light up Super League’s Magic Weekend, but few in the claret and gold camp were arguing after securing a valuable 18-10 triumph over Catalans Dragons at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park.
Coach Rick Stone’s men produced a performance that was scrappy in the extreme, with the cutting edge of the suspended Danny Brough alarmingly missed, despite the best efforts of new on-loan Leigh half-back Martyn Ridyard, who did produce some promising touches.
Luckily for Stone’s side, they were up against a Catalans team that seemed even more determined to lose than their hosts.
Unfortunately, the first half was far from magic, with both sides struggling to get into their stride during a very scrappy 40 minutes.
With mistakes the order of the day, clear-cut openings were at a premium, as reflected in the 6-6 half-time scoreline.
And that was probably a fair reflection of what at least was an evenly-matched encounter.
But the opening salvo didn’t suggest it would be so close, with Catalans racing into a 6-0 lead within four minutes after what was to be a rare piece of quality.
A smart Julian Bousquet offload set the ball rolling from a break on half-way, which was started and finished by Richie Myler, with the try converted by Luke Walsh.
That lead was almost doubled seven minutes later, but video referee Ben Thaler ruled Bousquet was offside in touching down a Walsh ‘bomb’.
And the Giants wasted little time making the most of the let-off by going straight down to the other end of the field for Kruise Leeming to take on the Dragons line and feed Lee Gaskell to dive over from close range.
On-loan Leigh half-back Martyn Ridyard was unable to add the conversion, but at 6-4 Huddersfield were right back in it.
However, with both sides struggling to complete a set of six, it wasn’t until a minute before the break when the scores were levelled as Ridyard slotted over a penalty after Alex Mellor had been caught high.
The quality failed to improve after the break, with mistakes by both sides again the dominant feature, and playing a part in the build-up to Catalans’ second try nine minutes after the restart as the Giants defence held back to enable Iain Thornley to cross in the corner, too far out for Walsh to add the extras.
Video referee Thaler again came to the Giants’ rescue to rule out a try for Greg Bird with 15 minutes of the contest remaining.
There was nothing, however, to dispute the try that put Huddersfield ahead for the first time in the 72nd minute when Sam Rapira crashed over from close range and Ridyard converted to put his side two points ahead.
And that lead was extended just three minutes later when Adam O’Brien, who earlier in the half had to undergo a head test after taking a heavy knock plunged over from acting half-back close to the line.
Ridyard again goaled, leaving the Dragons to have to score twice in the last five minutes to take the spoils – they never looked like doing that.
