Huddersfield Giants came through their final pre-season friendly relatively unscathed, head coach Luke Robinson has confirmed.
Huddersfield picked up a 28-16 win over Hull FC on Sunday afternoon as they overcame a testing pitch at Brantingham Park, the home of rugby union outfit Hull Ionians, and claimed their second win of the year after seeing off York Knights last week.
Jack Billington scored two on the day for the Giants, while Fenton Rogers, Alex Chippendale and Tom Burgess also got over in a performance that pleased Robinson.
The head coach was happy to confirm that any issues picked up in East Yorkshire were minor, too, with Kieran Rush and Lewis Jagger picking up knocks, while George Flanagan left the field through tightness.
“I think both teams got what they wanted out of the game,” Robinson told Serious About Rugby League.
“More than anything else we want to come away unscathed injury wise and we had one where Kieran Rush pulled his calf a little bit and George Flanagan started tightening up at the end but apart from that, a clean bill of health.
“It was a testing field for everybody and both teams got out of it what they wanted. Our middles were some of our stronger middles just to give them some game time and get them a bit of bone on bone contact because there’s only so much you can do in training.
“Jags as well, that was a bit of friendly fire, Archie Sykes came flying in and caught him on his elbow. Fingers crossed that’s not too bad.”
Robinson named a strong forward line up for the game on the outskirts of Hull and he was pleased to see a number of those names take their opportunity to impress.
“We knew what field we were coming to and we knew we weren’t playing at the Accu or Hull, it would be a little bit muddy and wet, it would be an opportunity for the middles to get some minutes,” Robinson added.
“We’ve got competition for places and I told them this. It’s not just a case of getting a blow on, these trial games are an opportunity to put your best foot forward and try to get yourself in that 17 for the Challenge Cup at Hunslet and Catalans away first game of the season. They’re all fighting for positions and today is another step towards deciding who I play in those games.
“It’s a big year for us all. Every year is big but we want our big players playing well and as many as of the forward pack getting us on the front foot. We need our middles to be good this year.”
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