Huddersfield out-muscled a spirited London Broncos side in a high scoring affair at Trailfinders Sports Ground.
MATCH DETAILS
Huddersfield’s ex-NRL contingent excelled to give the visitors the edge over the London in front of a noticeably reduced Mother’s Day crowd in the capital.
Joe Wardle crossed first for Huddersfield before Alex Walker levelled the scores soon after in what looked like a game seemingly void of defence. Huddersfield, however, soon kicked into gear and controlled the tackle through their considerably larger pack.
Off the back of which, Huddersfield crossed for four consecutive tries from Jordan Turner, Akuila Uate, Jermaine McGillvary, and Sebastian Ikahihifo respectively.
London struggled to answer the brutish Giants pack for large parts of the second half, but managed to cut the visitors’ lead just shy of half time after Jay Pitts pounced on a crafty grubber from Jordan Abdull. poor kick from Matt Frawley, from which Jay Pitts broke and supplied Rhys Williams with a pass for a 50m breakaway try.
Down by 16, London came out firing in the second half and scored soon after it’s resumption, with Rhys Williams breaking away off the back of a poor kick from Matt Frawley.
Broncos second half lead didn’t last long, however, and Akuila Uate bundled his way over in the corner before Kieron Dixon answered with a good finish of his own. Alex Mellor added to Huddersfield’s tally later on before Kieron Dixon crossed to soften the Broncos loss to a 12-point deficit just before the final buzzer.
FOUR POINTERS
Huddersfield looking up the tableย
After a horrific start to the season, Huddersfield have now won 3 of their last 4 convincingly and, more importantly, against teams around them in the table. Now they’ve hit a purple patch it looks as though they will be able to get 8 points from their next four (Wakefield, Castleford, Leeds, London) and push for a firm playoff spot.
Uate puts on a show
Having been somewhat underwhelming in the opening rounds of his debut season, Akuila Uate turned it on in good conditions at Trailfinders and scored a brace among a plethora of classy attacking plays. Huddersfield will no doubt enjoy him hitting his straps with most of the season left to play.
Gaskell impressive off the tee
Lee Gaskell excelled from the tee on Sunday in adverse kicking conditions; despite the warm weather, strong winds made it tough for the kickers both out of hand and off the tee. While, Dixon could only convert three of London’s five tries from favourable positions, Gaskell hit five from seven including a touchline conversion against the wind. Having such a classy kicker will undoubtedly benefit the Giants.
Broncos suffer from another slow start
After Joe Wardle crossed just three minutes in, London had conceded first in eight of their last nine games. Although they usually warm into the game, London struggled to build on a quickfire reply from Alex Walker and went into the half time break 16 points down. While it wasn’t an unassailable lead, it is certainly hard to come back from and London couldn’t quite manage a comeback this time round.
THE RESULT
LONDON BRONCOS 26
Tries: Walker, Pitts, Williams, Dixon (2)
Goals: Dixon (3)
Drop Goals: n/a
HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS 38
Tries: Wardle, Turner, Uate (2), McGillvary, Ikahihifo, Mellor
Goals: Gaskell (5)
Drop Goals: n/a
SQUADS
London Broncos: Walker; Dixon, Fleming, Kear, Williams; Abdull, Smith; Butler, Pelissier, Yates, Pitts, Gee, Davies.
Interchanges:ย Fozard, Mason, Richards, Battye.
Huddersfield Giants: McIntosh; McGillvary, Turner, Senior, Uate; Gaskell, Frawley; English, Leeming, Matagi, Wardle, Mellor, Lawrence.
Interchanges:ย Ikahihifo, Roberts, O’Brien, Ta’ai.
