HUDDERSFIELD Giants’ Senior Academy side suffered a bitterly disappointing 48-12 Championship defeat at a strong Wakefield side last night.

With the likes of Super League squad men David March, Jason Golden, Mark Applegarth and Dale Ferguson, as well as top French international Maxime Greseque in their ranks, it was always going to be a tough ask.

And even with Stuart Jones, left, and Mat Gardner in the Giants ranks, the visitors were always second best.

Jones did look solid during a full 80-minute work-out.

But with Wakefield dominating from the start and with the help of an inconsistent refereeing performance from Andy Grundy who clearly got under the skin of the Giants, the final outcome was inevitable.

The game had already slipped out of Huddersfield’s grasp by half-time as they trailed 26-6, with their points coming from a try by back-rower James Martin and goal from Leroy Cudjoe.

Those two doubled the Giants’ tally after the break in the same manner, but at that stage the Wildcats were already well out of sight.

On a very disappointing night, there was one bright spot with the performance on the wing of new boy Jermaine McGilvray.

He may be new to rugby league, but he carries the ball strongly and may develop into a useful player.