Teenage centre Jake Wardle grabbed two tries on his Super League debut and earned a second-half spell in the sin-bin as interim Giants head coach Chris Thorman finished his time in temporary charge with an excellent 28-18 home win over fellow strugglers Widnes Vikings.
It was Thorman’s first Huddersfield win at the seventh attempt as he prepares to hand over the coaching reins to new Aussie boss Simon Woolford, who will arrive at the John Smith’s Stadium next Thursday.
And the Giants’ new main man will now have something positive to build on as his club moved up to ninth with just their third top-flight triumph of the campaign – with the 19-year-old Wardle pointing the way ahead to what Woolford will clearly hope is a bright future.
After an even opening, it was the hosts who struck first in the 14th minute.
Acting full-back Jordan Rankin made it possible, kicking the ball high to the corner on the sixth tackle for Wardle to leap the highest and mark his Super League debut by touching down in the corner.
His older brother, the former Giants and current Castleford star Joe, would have been proud as he watched on from the stands.
Fellow rookie Huddersfield centre Sam Wood was unable to add the extras, and that enabled the Vikings to nudge ahead 14 minutes later on one of their few meaningful attacks of the half.
Two cheap penalties took Widnes to the line to pave the way for Danny Craven to cross with relative ease.
Tom Gilmore’s goal made it 6-4 to the visitors.
But it was the Giants who led at the break as the ball was swept out to the right for Wood to have just enough space and strength to touch down in the corner.
This time Wood made no mistake with the touchline conversion, and Huddersfield had a 10-6 interval advantage.
A tremendous Rankin break almost put Kruise Leeming over for the Giants’ third within 30 seconds of the restart. But there was no denying the home side three minutes later when Huddersfield’s second 19-year-old top-flight debutant Oliver Russell – the scrum half son of former Wigan, Oldham and Castleford hooker Richard – kicked perfectly for Wardle to grab a carbon copy of his first try, which Wood converted.
That failed to shake the Vikings, however, who narrowed the deficit in the 54th minute when Ryan Ince finished smartly in the corner and Gilmore landed the touchline goal.
Yet with neither side able to take full control of the contest, it was hardly a surprise when the Giants regained their 10-point advantage as pressure on the Widnes line paved the way for the hard-working Ukuma Ta’ai to crash over from close range for another converted score.
Wardle’s highly-eventful debut took a downturn with 13 minutes remaining when he was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle on Rhys Hanbury, and moments later Gilmore capitalised on a strong Greg Burke drive to cruise through unopposed.
Gilmore’s goal made it a four-point ball game once again.
At that stage, the Vikings looked to be in the ascendency – although no-one had told the Giants.
Despite being a man down, Huddersfield wasted very little time taking play downfield and creating the space for Alex Mellor to plunge over for Wood to land his fourth successful conversion of the night. It was 28-18 with six tense minutes still on the clock.
But the Giants had enough in reserve to hang on.
The win will do them a power of good as they await the arrival of new boss Woolford and plan for the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup, their sixth-round opponents being Wakefield Trinity at the John Smith’s next Friday.
A win like this will have done wonders for morale in the camp!
