THE Giants’ Wembley dream died as, for the second game running, they failed to do the simple things right.
While Warrington played almost error-free rugby, too much spilled possession and an inability to stretch their rivals saw Huddersfield fall at the semi-final hurdle in the Carnegie Challenge Cup at the City of Salford Stadium.
The suspense before kick-off was heightened in the stadium as a 15-minute delay was announced as the BBC decided to show a preference for golf and put back the kick-off to suit their schedules.
Giants head coach Nathan Brown certainly rang the changes after the heavy 52-6 Super League defeat at Castleford, with four players coming in and a number of positional changes.
Losing their berths in the team were full-back Greg Eden, injured Aussie second rower Luke O’Donnell, pack partner Jason Chan – a regular all season – and winger Luke George, who suffered concussion at the Probiz Coliseum.
That brought a shuffle that pushed Scott Grix into full-back, Jermaine McGillvary returned after a long injury absence due to a torn chest muscle on the wing, skipper Kevin Brown reverted to stand off from loose forward and Danny Brough started at scrum half, while Lee Gilmour moved from the pack to the centre as Eorl Crabtree returned to the side.
The Wolves were boosted by the appearance in the starting line-up of skipper Lee Briers, who had been rested from their 15-6 Super League win over Catalan Dragons with an Achilles tendon strain, while second rower Trent Waterhouse had recovered sufficiently from an eye wound sustained in the game against the French outfit.
The prize was to ensure the first all-Yorkshire Challenge Cup final since 2005 – when Hull FC defeated Leeds – and an even more rare meeting an all West Yorkshire final – the last being Featherstone Rovers victory over Bradford Northern in 1973.
But what the Giants really needed was to be as fast out of the blocks as the Rhinos had been 24 hours earlier when the power of their early charge proved enough to put out the holders Wigan Warriors.
However, they looked hesitant for the first five minutes and escaped narrowly when winger Aaron Murphy managed to take the ball from a Briers angled kick to the corner, even though Joel Monaghan had initially looked favourite to win it.
A superb 40-20 kick from Brough settled the nerves for the Giants a little and they used that position well to register the game’s first try.
Neat work by hooker Scott Moore and Brough put Fa’alogo on a run to the line and when caught he managed to offload for Moore to dive over.
Brough added the goal but the Wolves were instantly back at the Giants line.
Again there was a weathering of the storm with Wolves winger Chris Riley being bundled into touch near the Giants’ line, but on the quarter hour Warrington were level.
Prop forward Garreth Carvell was brought down short of the line but scrambled his way over, and referee Richard Silverwood called for a TV verdict.
Video referee Ian Smith took an age to decide whether Carvell had been tackled before crawling to the line with the ball and in the end made no real decision by awarding a try, giving Warrington benefit of the doubt – there was certainly doubt enough in the minds of the Giants fans at that end of the ground.
Former Giants ace Brett Hodgson added the goal and the two sides went back to trading blows toe-to-toe.
The first to blink were the Giants as full-back Grix spilled a kick and from the resultant scrum the Wolves were able to create the platform to puncture the Giants line and Ryan Atkins stretched to get the ball down.
Hodgson added the goal and was on target again as Grix once more slipped in dealing with a loose ball and this time Joel Monaghan made him pay.
Grix was hesitant again soon after but was bailed out by McGillvary, who was then felled by Wolves forward Ben Westwood, who escaped with a lecture from referee Silverwood.
But as the half-time interval arrived the Giants perhaps could be relieved they were still within two scores of their rivals.
They needed to make the best possible start to the second half and seemed to have got into the right frame of mind as, within three minutes, Luke Robinson had been held up over the line after a dart from acting half back, and then the video referee ruled against Leroy Cudjoe as he tried to get the ball down having taken a Brough kick (four defenders proved enough to stop him getting the ball down).
The Wolves were also denied by Smith and his telly when a Carvell effort was ruled out for an obstruction, but the Giants failure to register points quickly led to Wolves’ confidence growing.
And then Hodgson administered the killer blow just before the hour.
Click here for a gallery of action from the game - if you can bear to look!
A neat move saw Briers pull the Giants defence away from their markers and full-back Hodgson drifted into the space and eased through for the simplest of tries.
The man of the match winner then added the goal and put the Wolves out of sight, seven minutes later, with a drop goal before tacking on a penalty.
He was then on target again as he added the extras after Stefan Ratchford had crossed as the Wolves made a mockery of the Giants defence with some basketball style passing in the final five minutes.
The Wolves had scored 33 unanswered points to set up a meeting with surprise finalists Leeds in the August 25 decider, a repeat of the 2010 final which Smith’s men won 30-6.
