Huddersfield Giants will look to regain some momentum after three consecutive defeats as they host Wigan Warriors at the John Smith’s Stadium. Here’s everything you need to know…
SQUAD NEWS
Huddersfield Giants
Head coach Simon Woolford has made three changes from the 19-man squad that suffered defeat at Castleford Tigers last week – a third defeat in a row for the Giants.
Jon Luke Kirby is included for the first time, and could make his debut as Woolford deals with a number of injuries in his squad.
Daniel Smith, Huddersfield Giants. Photo credit: Getty Images.Alex Mellor and Oliver Russell also come in, replacing Jordan Turner, Daniel Smith and Jake Wardle.
Huddersfield 19-man squad: Mamo, Gaskell, Brough, Leeming, Lawrence, Hinchcliffe, Rankin, Roberts, Ta’ai, Clough, O’Brien, Mellor, Roche, English, Hewitt, Senior, Russell, Kirby, Matagi.
Wigan Warriors
Head Coach Shaun Wane makes two changes to the 19-man squad that was announced to face Warrington Wolves, when Wigan secured a fourth win out of four in the Super 8s and fifth in a row in total.
Joe Greenwood and Josh Woods come into the squad to replace the injured Willie Isa (collarbone) and Ben Flower (back). Tommy Leuluai is set to make his 250th Warriors appearance.
Willie Isa, Wigan Warriors. Photo credit: Getty Images.Victory will see Wigan seal a home semi-final in the play-offs.
Wigan 19-man squad: Bateman, Clubb, Davies, Escare, Gildart, Greenwood, Hamlin, Leuluai, Manfredi, Navarrete, Paisley, Partington, Powell, Sarginson, Sutton, Tautai, Tomkins, Williams, Woods.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The last time the two sides met, Huddersfield had took another giant step towards Super League safety with a hugely-impressive 20-12 win over Wigan at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Left-wing Darnell McIntosh scored two tries for the second successive week to earn his side’s man-of-the-match award as the Giants cruised to a seventh win in their last eight matches to climb to sixth in the table.
It was Huddersfield’s first win over Wigan in 12 attempts and would have been even more emphatic but for an off day with the boot by Danny Brough, who missed with all four conversion attempts.
This season’s other meeting is one that the Giants would rather forget though – a 48-10 at the DW Stadium as they struggled earlier in the year.
KEY BATTLE – Danny Brough vs George Williams
Both players will be leading by example as the two will go head-to-head on Thursday.
A notable stat for these two would be the amount of tries that they assist – Brough has produced 14 tries this season, more than any other player for the team.
George Williams, Wigan Warriors. Photo credit: Getty Images.Meanwhile Williams has produced 20 tries in 22 appearances, using his brute strength to run just under 2,000 metres and averaging six metres a carry.
THE IMPORTANT DETAILS
Date: Thursday 20th September
Venue: John Smith’s Stadium
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Referee: Greg Dolan
POLL
[totalpoll id=”296333″]
