Round Ten of Super League pitted a Huddersfield Giants side, desperate for a win to try and scramble free of the relegation zone, against a Castleford Tigers side who are poised for an attack on the Minor Premiership, just four points behind the top two.
The Tigers came into the game on the back of a good win against the Wigan Warriors last weekend, while the Giants will have spent the week licking their wounds after losing by just one point to Wakefield Trinity last time out.
A home win would go against the recent form between the two sides but if realised it would see the Giants up into eighth, an away win would consolidate the Tigers in third.
Grant Millington picked up a knee injury in the opening seconds and after trying to run it off he succumbed and headed for the changing rooms.
After just ninety seconds had elapsed, Greg Eden intercepted a Giants pass on the half way line and had a simple run downfield for a simple opening try for the Tigers. Peter Mata’utia kicked the extras and the Tigers had the early start to the game that had been missing in recent games.
The Giants struck back on twelve with a try from Alex Mellor as he took a try from Lee Gaskell after Ukuma Ta’ai had created the space. Darnell McIntosh added the conversion to level the scores.
Joe Wardle could, and perhaps should, have put the Giants into the lead but he was held up just short and returning the ball Matt Cook got close to the line himself down the other end of the field before being interfered with as he tried to play the ball. The Tigers kicked the resulting penalty through Mata’utia for a two point lead.
Two minutes before the interval Mike McMeeken lost the ball in the act of scoring, under some defensive pressure.
With just two seconds of the half remaining Jermaine McGillvary went for the corner but after sending the decision up as a TRY, the video referee decided that he was in touch a split second before grounding and the two sides went into the shed separated by just two points after an intriguing and highly defensive first half.
Within four minutes of the restart Mellor made it two tries on the night as he took a pass from Matt Frawley to crash betwen two defenders and go over the line to ground. McIntosh added the extras for 12-8 to the home side.
On forty-seven minutes, and after three back-to-back penalties and a drop out, Matt Cook pushed his way through two Giants tackler to ground under the uprights to again get the Tigers on level pegging. Mata’utia added the conversion to edge to visitors back into their two point lead.
Another Huddersfield penalty, this time for interference, gifted McIntosh a penalty goal to again level the scores.
Cook tackled Frawley without the ball after the pair chased a Frawley grubber thed had ricocheted off Cooks foot. McIntosh kicked the penalty goal, the Giants now 16-14 up.
Some tremendous Tigers defence prevented the Giants from increasing their lead and it was the Tigers who scored the next points, from the boot of Mata’utia from forty metres, to again restore parity.
On sixty-five Mata’utia was taken out while chasing his own grubber kick and the referee awarded a penalty which the Castleford kicked converted. The Tigers now two points up as the sides traded penalties.
Ten minutes from time Alex Mellor completed his hat-trick as he was on hand to take a McGillvary inside pass to cross with a Tigers tackler around his ankles. McIntosh pushed his kick across the posts, the home side now with a slender 20-18 lead.
Indiscipline from Adam Milner of the Tigers, camped on the Giants line, cost them a pressure relieving penalty on seventy-seven minutes. Milner saw yellow, sent to the bin for a bit of ‘afters’ in the tackle.
The Giants upset the odds, the pundits, and made a mockery of the league table as they played out their gample plan with discipline and strength in defence. Some sloppiness from the Tigers caused them grief, conceeding penalties, and close to the final hooter getting a player sin binned with the try line begging. This is a massive win for the Giants who now lift themselves clear of the bottom of the table peril, the Tigers struggling to find any consistency in 2019, much to the frustration of their coach Daryl Powell.
Giants: McIntosh (4G), McGillvary, Turner, Wardle Jake, Uate, Gaskell, Frawley, Ta’ai, Leeming, Matago, Wardle Joe, Mellor (3T), Murphy. Subs: Ikahihifo, Roberts, O’Brien, Hewitt.
Tigers: Turner, Clare, Minikin, Shenton, Eden (T), Mata’utia (5G), Trueman, Watts, Milner (SB on 78), Millington, Sene-Lefao, McMeeken, Moors. Subs: Clark, Smith, O’Neill, Cook (T).
Referee: Ben Thaler.
Half-Time: 6-8.
Full-Time: 20-18.
Attendance: .
