Huddersfield Giants boss makes ‘do or die’ admission after Challenge Cup exit

Huddersfield Giants boss Luke Robinson has had a tough few weeks without a win since the previous round of the Challenge Cup.

The Giants have yet to win a Super League game with only Salford Red Devils sitting below them in the table.

Another loss followed on Sunday with Wakefield Trinity grabbing a 22-12 victory over them to make the quarter-finals of the Cup.

Huddersfield head coach Robinson said he was sick of his side’s mistakes, especially when they were ahead at half-time again.

Speaking to the press post-loss, he said: “You’re probably going to think I’m a broken record, it’s just same old, same old.

“I feel like I’m in Groundhog Day a little bit coming here.

“At half-time, we’re winning the game so that’s every single game this year that we’ve been winning at half-time.

“They actually made a mistake before us in the second half, which I thought ‘Oh, the tide’s turning’ but then instantaneously, we drop the ball and then give two back-to-back penalties away and then concede a try.”

When questioned about what it was that was causing this, the Huddersfield Giants boss was unsure what exactly was the root problem but insisted that his players have to fix it as soon as possible.

He added: “I don’t think it’s a fitness thing when we concede in the first five minutes of every half.

“It’s not who’s on the field because I’ve purposely made sure different people have been on for the start of the second half so it’s not a personnel thing.

“It’s a group thing, it’s me, it’s the boys, it’s a mentality.

“The issue we’ve got is we don’t seem to be able to just make one error, we seem to compound them.”

The Giants do have injuries to key players at the moment, with both Adam Clune and Zac Woolford missing for the next eight weeks or more.

New recruit Jacob Gagai missed their loss to Wakefield due to a HIA, which was only found later in the week when reviewing game footage.

He will miss Thursday’s trip to Salford Red Devils too after complaining of headaches and issues with sleeping.

Huddersfield boss Robinson said it’s frustrating when he’s had to change his line-up every week, especially in the spine.

He said: “We’ve got to find answers because we’re putting ourselves in a really good position to win games, I thought they were there for the taking at half-time.

“I think if we’d have come back out and had a really good spell for the first ten minutes, I think we’d have gone on and won that game.

“It’s unbelievably frustrating that it’s been difficult to manage when I’ve had a different spine for every single game.

“It’s very difficult to build some continuity and consistency.”

Trying to pinpoint a specific reason has been difficult for the Huddersfield Giants boss but he said it ultimately comes down to their second-half performances and their game against Salford will be a tough one also.

He finished: “It’s the second half that’s killing us, it’s a smarts thing. we need to learn pretty quickly because we’ve got a really quick turnaround now.

“It’s going to be extremely difficult to just make sure we do the right things and recover well.

“They’re obviously a side under extreme mental pressures but we’ve put ourselves in a lot of pressure down.

“We feel like it’s a bit of a ‘do or die’ game.”