If there was one away banker on this weeks coupon then it
was surely for the Wigan Warriors as they faced a lowly Huddersfield Giants as
they struggle to break free of the bottom of the table in a game played at the
Flair Stadium in Dewsbury.
The ‘home’ side were given a twenty-two point start by the
bookies with Wigan clear favourites to move back within two points of the
league leading Hull KR and in the process increase their points difference
total tremendously in their favour.
The sides met back at the start of March, Wigan the 44-18
winners at the ‘Brick Community Stadium’.
Neither side grasped the mettle in the opening exchanges and
it took eleven minutes for Liam Marshall to put the Warriors on the board off a
Jake Wardle pass to ghost in down the left wing. Adam Keighran was unable to
find the target in a swirling wind.
Against expectations it was the Giants who were next on the
board when George Flanagan found space to go past Keighran and drop over the
line to ground. Flanagan added the conversion to edge his side ahead by 6-4 as
the game hot the twenty minute mark.
Marshall was denied second try on twenty-two, brilliant
Gants defence pushing him into touch as he went for the line.
Three minutes before the interval the Giants got just
rewards for an extended period of pressure, George King bust the tackle from
close range and dropped over the line. Flanagan added a simple conversion for a
12-4 lead which they took into the half time sheds.
Wigan had a poor first half by their high standards, but the
Giants seemed to have a belief in themselves and on a smaller ground they were
putting in a great performance.
It took just a few seconds after the restart for Wigan to
get right back in the game. A defensive error from the Giants after a Wigan kick,
Flanagan losing the ball backwards into his own in-goal, Jacob Gagai unable to
knock the ball dead allowed Jai Field to ground the loose ball. Keighran added
the extras to reduce the Huddersfield advantage to just two points.
But on fifty-three the Giants regained the initiative as Joe
Greenwood took advantage of a switch in the direction of play to coast through
the defence from ten metres out and score. Flanagan found the mark again with
his conversion for 18-10, the home side back with some breathing space.
With twenty minutes remaining it was the Giants in the
driving seat and as the clock clicked down there seemed less and less chance of
the expected Wigan comeback.
But on seventy-two Jack Farrimond grabbed Wigan a lifeline
as he took an inside ball from Field to canter home and dive in. Keighran was
on target with the goal, a two-point lead for the home side with six minutes
remaining.
A Giants push at the scrum forced a Wigan knock-on with two
minutes remaining to allow them to regain possession. But with a single second
of the game remaining on the clock, Farrimond took an inside pass from Zach Eckersley
to dive over for the winning try to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. Marshall
added the conversion for a 22-18 win, the Giants players devastated.
Wigan stayed with it until the dying second and reaped their
reward with a win and the two points but it was an exceptional performance from
the Giants who really deserved the win and who were very unfortunate not to get
the points and secure their second win of an awful season. Wigan are back within
two of the champions elect, the battle for the minor premiership is still
alive.
Huddersfield Giants: Flanagan (T G 3/3), Halsall, Bibby,
Milne, Gagai, Clune, Lolohea, Wilson, Woolford, Powell, Hewitt, Greenwood (T),
Cudjoe. Subs: Golding, King (T), Rush, Burgess. 18th Man: English.
Wigan Warriors: Field (T), Eckersley, Keighran (G 2/3),
Wardle, Marshall (T, G 1/1), Farrimond (2T), Smith, Havard, O’Neill, Byrne,
Nsemba, Farrell, Ellis. Subs: Mago, Leeming, Dupree, Hill. 18th Man:
Douglas.
Half-Time: 12-4.
Full-Time: 18-22.
Score Progression: 0-4, 4-4, 6-4, 10-4, 12-4: HT: 12-8, 12-10,
16-10, 18-10, 18-14, 18-16, 18-20, 18-22 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Wigan – Square – Huddersfield - Wigan.
Referee: Liam Moore.
