Giants walk tall at the summit
Huddersfield overcame Wakefield 32-14 in a scrappy derby on Sunday to climb to the top of the Stobart Super League.
Last Updated: 11/03/12 6:48pm
Huddersfield overcame Wakefield 32-14 in a scrappy derby on Sunday to climb to the top of the Stobart Super League.
Winger Jermaine McGillvary gave the visitors a dream start at the Rapid Solicitors Stadium with two tries in the first quarter, while centre Joe Wardle touched down twice in the second half.
Their efforts helped the Giants gain a fifth win of the season to leapfrog previous leaders Warrington Wolves and take over at the summit.
Wakefield winger Ben Cockayne scored all three of his side's tries to lead a brief revival, but Huddersfield started and finished strongly to condemn the hosts to a fourth successive defeat without playing anywhere near their best.
Mazy run
A mazy run by scrum-half Danny Brough, one of four ex-Wakefield players in the Giants line-up, created the position for centre Leroy Cudjoe to send McGillvary over for his first try.
The same combination cut the Wildcats apart again soon after, Cudjoe drawing two defenders to get his team-mate over for his second.
Aaron Murphy looked to have finished off the best move of the match before being recalled for a forward pass and Wakefield took advantage of four consecutive penalties to pull a try back through Cockayne.
Huddersfield always looked the more likely to score, however, and they duly extended their lead five minutes before half-time.
Stand-off Scott Grix got David Faiumu into a gap and prop Larne Patrick was on hand to take the final pass and touch down.
Poor discipline
Brough's penalty on the stroke of half-time made it 18-4 but the Wildcats roared back early in the second half as the Giants paid the price for more indiscipline.
Cockayne twice took long passes from stand-off Isaac John to complete his hat-trick and, after failed conversion attempts by Cockayne and Tim Smith, John took the responsibility to kick his side's only goal of the game.
That made it 18-14 but Huddersfield made sure of the points when skipper Kevin Brown sent centre Wardle though a gap in the Wakefield defence after 61 minutes before cutting through for a try himself seven minutes later.
Brough scooped up a loose ball to set up the position for Wardle to grab his second and, although Brough was off target for the third time, the Giants ended up winning with plenty to spare.