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Huddersfield Giants 14-16 Wigan Warriors: Highlights, player ratings and talking points

In one of the all time great finals, Wigan edged a classic against Huddersfield having been second best for large parts of the game.

They can thank the brilliant Harry Smith who justified being picked ahead of Thomas Leuluai in the starting 17 with a piece of magic which gave Liam Marshall the chance to win it at the death.

Highlights:

Huddersfield start like a house on fire
The Giants were regarded as slight underdogs going into this one having never won a major final in the summer era nor the cup itself since 1953. But they started like lightning and looked like they had masses of experience on the biggest stage whilst the Warriors – despite their fairly comprehensive experience – gave them chance after chance. After a penalty gave Tui Lolohea the chance to take the lead with a penalty, the Giants eventually scored after huge pressure on the Wigan line with a lovely move. Most teams have fullbacks and halves coming out the back and centres and wingers hitting hard lines but this time it was huge centre Ricky Leutele who came round the back and showed great strength to score the first try of the game – a lovely score too.

Harry Smith statement score
The momentum was totally with Huddersfield in the first quarter of the game but the loss of Chris Hill started to shift things. The Giants started finding it tough out of their own end and their early kicks were being hoovered up. Yet Wigan still couldn’t find a way over. The warning signs where their with a number of offloads conjuring up nearly moments and eventually one of these offloads unlocked the Huddersfield defence. Morgan Smithies popped his nose through offloading to Harry Smith who skated over. He then levelled the game with the resulting conversion totally justifying Matt Peet’s decision to keep him in the side despite the return of Thomas Leuluai.

Chris the try scoring McQueen
Talk about try scoring machines, there may be no forward weapon as deadly as the try scoring McQueen at Huddersfield. Again the Giants defied convention in creating this try. Usually it is a fullback coming round the back as a third receiver but on the last tackle Jack Cogger popped up on the right to find the fullback in question Lolohea as second receiver. He then fed McQueen out the back who had all the size and space to make easy work of the opportunity. Returning the momentum back to the Giants.

Wigan’s first half defence
The Warriors could have been out of the game at the break such was the pressure heaped on them by the Giants and the number of errors they themselves came up with. However, they defended brilliantly keeping themselves in the game at the break. One of the best efforts came from Harry Smith. The halfback scrambled back to flick the ball out of play to deny the onrushing Oliver Russell with fullback Jai Field nowhere to be seen. That was the start of the half, but at the end of the half Jermaine McGillvary looked set to go over from a Tui Lolohea ball but the Warriors scrambled to deny the big winger.

Star men stand up
In the first half, Wigan were not like themselves and their exciting players were almost non-existent. But two minutes into the second stanza that all changed. Taking a leaf out of Huddersfield’s playbook, the Warriors opted to hit a different sort of runner than a fullback out the back cutting out to Iain Thornley who released the pacey Bevan French and who did he have in support? His partner in crime and the equally quick Jai Field who scored to change the game completely.

McGillvary with the try he’s waited for his entire career
Jermaine McGillvary lives and breathes Huddersfield Giants but had never represented the club in a major final till today. His try helped seal their place in today’s showpiece and he got a decisive try this afternoon that you feel his whole career has built up to. It was a classic McGillvary finish pushing off defenders in the corner to get the ball down after a lovely offload from Leroy Cudjoe – his old partner in crime. It gave the Giants the lead once more.

Amazing scramble defence from the Giants
Having taken the lead through McGillvary, Huddersfield conjured up one of the best defensive efforts the cup final has seen. Not only did they scramble to deny Liam Farrell as he raced onto a lovely weighted grubber from Cade Cust, they scrambled left to quash the threat out wide after the ball had squirted from Farrell’s grasp and been swung right.

Wild rugby
We nearly saw some of the most bizarre tries the Challenge Cup has ever seen as we entered the last 10 minutes. As Wigan came away from their own end Liam Marshall was smashed by McGillvary as the Warriors looked to go round the Giants. He panicked and offloaded which nearly led to a try for the onrushing Giants who instead knocked on and Jai Field raced down the wing only to be bundled into touch and denied. Had either opportunity resulted in a try it would have been one of the most surprising in Challenge Cup history.

Wigan win it at the death
Harry Smith had a spectacular game justifying the decision to pick him in the starting 17 and it was his innovation to find Liam Marshall racing down the wing to pick up a lovely grubber kick which proved the match winner. A lovely weighted kick which handed the match winner on a plate for Marshall.

Talking Points:

Wigan Errors
Rugby league is a simple game and you find it becomes even more simplified in finals as neither side look to give each other an inch. Thus, errors become disastrous. Usually you expect the inexperienced side to come up with the mistakes but it was the Warriors who came up with the bulk inviting endless pressure. Even after their spectacular try from Jai Field which finally gave them the lead, they coughed up possession. It was this that left them needing a late winner, they’ll have to learn to avoid this number of errors in future finals they contest.

Chris Hill loss
The Giants couldn’t have asked for a better start. They looked composed and dominated enjoying the majority of possession and territory. However, their dominance wavered when Chris Hill limped off. Huddersfield’s most experienced player on this stage and a key component of their go forward, this was a massive loss not least because it left them with limited subs to rotate the middles.

Huddersfield’s innovative attack
In finals tries can be hard to come by, especially in the modern game. Just look at the last two Grand Finals for instance. So, having set plays that are effective are key but even they can be too obvious and therefore easy to stop. Perhaps this is why the Giants elected to be a bit different in their use of organised plays hitting big runners like Chris McQueen and Ricky Leutele out the back rather than on hard balls as is custom with pivots usually receiving the ball out the back. An effective and different style of attack from the Giants which became emulated by the Warriors to help them win the game.

Player Ratings:

Huddersfield Giants
6 Tui Lolohea – 8
2 Jermaine McGillvary – 8
21 Leroy Cudjoe – 8
4 Ricky Leutele – 8
25 Innes Senior – 8
16 Jack Cogger – 7
23 Oliver Russell – 7
8 Chris Hill – 6
9 Danny Levi – 7
20 Oliver Wilson – 7
11 Josh Jones – 7
12 Chris McQueen – 9
13 Luke Yates – 8
Substitutes
5 Ashton Golding – 7
14 Matty English – 7
15 Joe Greenwood – 6
17 Owen Trout – 6

Wigan Warriors
23 Jai Field – 7
1 Bevan French – 8
4 Iain Thornley – 7
2 Jake Bibby – 7
5 Liam Marshall – 8
6 Cade Cust – 7
16 Harry Smith – 9
8 Brad Singleton – 7
28 Brad O’Neill – 7
20 Liam Byrne – 7
12 Liam Farrell – 8
13 John Bateman – 7
14 Morgan Smithies – 8
Substitutes
7 Thomas Leuluai – 6
10 Patrick Mago – 6
15 Kaide Ellis – 6
19 Ethan Havard – 6

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Richard Pearcey

    May 28, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    If we had nailed the conversions it would have been a different. One out of five not good

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