Huddersfield Giants boss Luke Robinson insists his side must learn quickly after losing 12-20 to Warrington Wolves in their opening fixture of the new Super League season. The Giants can take plenty of positives from the clash after testing Sam Burgess’ side for large periods, but Robinson was left to rue two key moments in the game.
Huddersfield actually took the lead in the contest as Tui Lolohea touched down and they showed tremendous resilience to hold off Warrington, who struggled to break their hosts down during a sustained period of pressure. However, one knock-on gave Warrington the field position to finally get over the line just before the break and that was the breakthrough they needed.
Matty Ashton and Toby King scored relatively early into the second half and while Huddersfield stuck together and dug deep, they couldn’t catch the Wolves, despite Joe Greenwood touching down.
“I’m gutted if I’m honest,” Robinson said in his post-match press conference. “I think we were in the game and the effort and desire the players put in was unbelievable.
“I said that to them at the end and hopefully everybody else and the fans realise what a tightly knit group they are and how much they care about each other and the team. I thought in the second half they had about 20-odd play-the-balls in our 20 and we had four, so it shows how hard we had to work to get that scoreline.
“I just think there was key moments in the games that we didn’t handle very well and I don’t think our game management was very good. I know it’s the first game of the year but we need to learn and learn quick.
“In the first half they had a load of back-to-back sets on our line and we threw the ball and pretty much gifted them a try which spurred them on. In the second half we did really well to contain them and then Danny Walker kicks a 20/40 and it was a brilliant kick but we actually let the ball dribble out and from that moment we surrendered field position. If we’d have handled those two moments a little bit better we’d have put ourselves in a way better position.”
To make matters worse for Huddersfield Giants, who are already missing Liam Sutcliffe, George King, Adam Clune, Sam Halsall and Taane Milne through injury or unavailability, they picked up two more injury concerns at the John Smith’s Stadium.
“Sam Hewitt pretty much at half-time I think he popped a rib but he played on for the rest of the half,” Robinson said. “I need him to stay on really because of the injuries I’ve got.
“I’ve already put a second row in centre which he is unaccustomed to so he was already doing us a favour and he did another one there in the second half so we’ll do an assessment on him and see where his ribs are at.
“Harry Rushton went off with a head knock and didn’t return so they’ll be doing an assessment on him as we speak. Those two are probably doubts [for next week against Leigh Leopards].”
