Super League: Huddersfield Giants v Catalan Dragons Preview
By Jonathan Doidge
Last Updated: 26/07/14 7:26am
Huddersfield Giants’ head coach Paul Anderson wants his team to go out “all guns blazing” in Sunday’s vital clash with Catalan.
A 52-26 win against Bradford last week confirmed the Bulls’ relegation and leaves the Giants in sixth place, three points ahead of Sunday’s visitors the Dragons.
Despite the win last time, the Huddersfield boss called for his team to be more consistent in transferring their training ground form to what happens on match days.
“We need to start going out all guns blazing rather than just waiting for things to happen," he said.
“Everyone came through unscathed from the weekend and we’re hopeful we’ll have a few bodies back for this weekend.
“While we won our last fixture against Bradford Bulls, we as a group know we are better defensively. Bradford put up a good account of themselves and gave it everything they had in tough conditions, but our quality shone through in the end.
“The positive thing for us is that we know we have plenty to improve on, yet we’re talking about a 50 point win and we didn’t play great.”
Huddersfield went down 34-10 in Perpignan earlier in the campaign and despite winning their last three at home against the French outfit, Anderson expects another huge challenge for the points this time.
“Catalan are a good physical team who have found some consistency,” he added. “We will use the defeat out in France as inspiration. It’s sixth versus seventh in the table and it provides a good challenge for us, we know we’ve got to step up.
“We’ve got six fixtures remaining including Sunday’s game with the Dragons and we are confident that we can win them all.
“We are a good team, we just need to prove that to ourselves. We’re looking to put a good run of performances together and hit some form as we enter the Play-Offs.”
Full back Scott Grix returns to the Giants’ 19-man squad following an injury picked up against Salford Red Devils in the place of Josh Johnson.
Prop Jeff Lima is back from injury for the Dragons, but the visitors are still without Olivier Elima, while Vincent Duport and Greg Mounis are both suspended.
Giants: Grix, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, Brough, Robinson, Crabtree, Kopczak, Ferres, Bailey, Lawrence, Patrick, Ta’ai, Wood, Broughton, Kaufusi, Mullally, Connor, Leeming.
Dragons: Escaré, Pryce, Pomeroy, Oldfield, Bosc, Henderson, Lima, Taia, Anderson, Maria, Pelissier, Whitehead, Millard, Simon, Bousquet, Paea, Baitieri, Garcia, Williams.
