This match had all the hallmarks of a really tricky test for Huddersfield in their quest for a first win of 2016 but in the end they found an unproblematic passage to victory.
Last year’s semi-finalists and one of the constants at the top of Super League in recent years had lost their first four games of the season, leaving them bottom of the embryonic table. With Hull KR arriving in West Yorkshire with a new coach at the helm and several of their key players back from injury, a fifth defeat in succession looked a real possibility for the Giants in the battle of the competition’s bottom two.
The contest as a whole is best summed up by the contrasting fortunes of both sides’ influential half-backs. Hull KR were able to welcome back their captain, Terry Campese, from a serious knee injury for the first time in nine months and, although at the end of the 42 minutes he was on the field the score was 6-6, he was withdrawn with another injury, this time to his hamstring.
On the other hand, the Huddersfield coach, Paul Anderson, had promised that his own star half-back, Danny Brough, would be much improved after getting a game under his belt following a return from injury at Leeds last week, and how right he was. Brough is so often Huddersfield’s go-to man and he was at his mercurial best, tormenting the visitors all afternoon. His kicking game was the work of a maestro.
Although well supported by those around him, it was Brough’s performance which proved pivotal for Huddersfield as they finally secured their win. “Winning is definitely better than losing,” said Anderson afterwards. “You could tell Broughy had a game under his belt from last week; he had the ball on a string in the second half and he was putting it wherever he wanted.”
Hull KR will be relieved that the injury to Campese is not a recurrence of the one suffered against Castleford last June which ruled him out for nine months but, now sitting bottom of the table after their worst ever start to a Super League season, the Robins and their new coach, James Webster, assuredly have more problems than the fitness issues surrounding their captain. “When he was sat on the ground with his hand in the air, you do fear the worst,” Webster said of Campese. “He made a real difference when he was on and we’re just hoping he won’t be out for too long.”
Webster had initially erred on the side of caution and left Campese on the bench. He had no choice but to introduce him after 17 minutes, with tries from the Jordan Tansey, making his debut, and Michael Lawrence putting Huddersfield 12-0 up early on. Campese’s introduction at least settled Hull KR down and they halved the deficit shortly after half-time when his kick was well claimed by Thomas Minns. But that was as good as it got for the visitors.
Aaron Murphy responded for the Giants before Campese’s withdrawal on 59 minutes – which to all intents signalled the end of Hull KR’s fight. A penalty from the ever-reliable Brough made it 20-6 before the Scotland international ran the visitors ragged with a kicking game which put them under pressure they could not handle. The result was secured when the England winger, Jermaine McGillvary, crossed before further late tries from Larne Patrick and Ukuma Ta’ai – his fourth in as many games against the Robins – rounded off a successful afternoon for the Giants, whose season is finally up and running.
Huddersfield Tansey; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Connor, Murphy; Brough, Wood; Crabtree, Hinchcliffe, Rapira, Wardle, Lawrence, Ta’ai. Interchange Patrick, Johnson, Leeming, Roberts.
Tries Tansey, Lawrence, Murphy, McGillvary, Patrick, Ta’ai. Goals Brough 7.
Hull KR Cockayne; Shawn, Thornley, Minns, Sio; Blair, Marsh; Walker, Lunt, Tilse, Clarkson, Horne, Allgood. Interchange Green, Greenwood, Campese, Boudebza.
Try Minns. Goal Shaw.
Referee R Hicks. Attendance 5,610.
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