 Huddersfield lifted the league leaders’ shield in style with a dominant 40-0 victory over Wakefield at the John Smith’s Stadium.
In front of a raucous crowd, Paul Anderson’s men lived up to their pre-match billing as odds on favourites as they took the Wildcats – who went into the game having lost pivotal playmaker Tim Smith to Salford just yesterday – to the cleaners. Huddersfield’s giant pack of forwards set the platform for Lunt, Brough, Robinson and Grix to combine and unleash their pacy backline.
The Fartowners’ defensive line was impenetrable as Trinity struggled to get any field position or create any chances of any note. Bobbie Goulding made his first Super League start against another of his famous dad’s former clubs – having previously came off the bench to appear against St Helens – but even the ex-Great Britain scrum half would have had little impact on a Wakefield side that was a distant second best in this contest.
It was a fitting manner of victory on the big occasion for the club that once upon a time finished bottom of Super League four years running. Fitting also that Anderson’s squad consists of players like Brough and Robinson, who were discarded by clubs early in their careers, and Eorl Crabtree who played for the club during their darkest hours and has experienced the lows of relegation with Huddersfield.
Most fitting of all, perhaps, was the fact that captain Brough stepped aside and allowed long-suffering chairman Ken Davy – whose name was sung by the near 9,000 home support all evening – to lift the shield after the game.
From the moment Jason Chan opened the scoring for the Giants on four minutes when he scooped up a loose ball close to the line to touch down, Huddersfield looked comfortable victors.
The try punctuated a scrappy opening that included an exchange of handbags between the two teams, sparked by a swinging arm from Paul Aiton on Eorl Crabtree.
The Giants then punished Wakefield’s indiscipline by capitalising on their gifted field position through two further tries. First, Brett Ferres steamed onto a short ball from Luke Robinson to crash over in trademark style. The big second rower has now scored a career-record 15 tries this season.
Shortly afterwards, Craig Kopczak was ruled to have been held short by video referee Steve Ganson, but the decision was simply delaying the inevitable as Jason Chan barged his way over the line for his second try.
The hosts thought they were over again just before the break, but good work from Lyne and Cockayne kept McGilvary out.
The vociferous home support weren’t kept waiting too long for another score, though, and Aaron Murphy dived over in the corner to finish off an expansive handling move just after half-time.
As if the party mood wasn’t already in full swing, the atmosphere was turned up a notch just moment s later when Danny Brough cut through the Wakefield defence before offloading to Grix who shifted the ball wide to Cudjoe, whose flick pass found McGilvary in enough space to touch down out wide in perhaps the try of the game.
With ten minutes left on the clock, McGilvary notched his second of the game when his centre Cudjoe again drew in Cockayne to release his winger to romp home out wide with another classy flick pass.
Shaun Lunt crashed over from short range to put the icing on the cake on the Giants’ big night with the last play of the game.
Huddersfield: Grix, McGilvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, Murphy, Brough, Robinson, Crabtree, Lunt, Kopczak, Ferres, Chan, Lawrence
Replacements: Faiumu, Patrick, Ta’ai, Wood
T: Chan 2, Ferres, Murphy, McGilvary 2, Lunt
G: Brough 6
Wakefield: Mathers, Fox, Collis, Lyne, Cockayne, Smith, Goulding, Poore, Aiton, Wilkes, Kirmond, Mariano, Tautai
Replacements: Raleigh, Lautiiti, Washbrook, Annakin
T:
G:
HT: 18-0
FT: 40-0
Referee: Tim Roby
RLFans Man of the Match: Danny Brough (Huddersfield)
Attendance: 8,787
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