Huddersfield Giants were agonisingly close to a comeback win over Wakefield Trinity, but it wasn’t to be for Luke Robinson’s side.
The Giants were 14 points down with 15 minutes to go, and looked down and out after Seth Nikotemo ran a great line to cross for the away side, but the Claret and Gold fought to the very end, and so nearly came up with the goods.
After two quick tries from George Flanagan Jr, the full-back looked to create a third, and one that would take them into the lead, but it just didn’t come off for the youngster.
Making two crucial errors when his side needed them most, the Bradford academy product couldn’t convert, and was left to rue his mistakes as Trinity took home the two points.
Boss Robinson was so pleased with his group’s effort to stay in the game, and it was those little moments that he said the side had to nail, but they just couldn’t get over the line.
Commenting on his star full-back, the former Giants player knows how bitter a pill it will be for him to swallow, especially after his two-try involvement in the potential comeback.
“George Flanagan’s a fabulous player. If he had his time again, he sort of whizzed through the opportunity on the left edge.
“If it had gone to Connor Carr’s hands, I think we score. Really unfortunate.”
On the game as a whole, Robinson said: “I thought we actually started pretty slow. “I thought they got the upper-hand first, and we slowly got ourselves back into it.
“I just thought we were a little bit gung-h0 in the first half. We were trying to score on too many occasions and not build any pressure.
“We’d turn the ball over in the right areas, but what happened is they [Wakefield] would build momentum on the back of it. If we can win them first two [rucks] we know we can control sets.”
Controversial video referee call the turning point says Huddersfield Giants boss
A key moment in the game was when Lachlan Walmsley crossed for his second try of the afternoon, and did so in very dubious circumstances.
The winger looked to intercept a Giants pass, but with an outstretched arm he couldn’t take in the pass.
The ball hit Walmsley’s foot, and video referee James Vella deemed the contact to be a kicking motion, and allowed play to go on, where he would eventually score.
The decision certainly wasn’t clear cut, and many in the ground were left perplexed as to whether it was the correct decision.
Regardless, the try was awarded, and that is what Robinson believes was the turning point in the game.
He said: “If I’m honest, that Lachlan Walmsley [try] knocked the stuffing out of us a little bit, because even he didn’t think he’d scored it, the way he put the ball down, just threw the ball straight back to George –Â I don’t think even he thought he’d scored it.
“When it’s not going your way, it’s not going your way, but look. There was fight and effort from the lads. Hopefully everybody who came today, we had a decent crowd, we did a real good job of getting fans in and hopefully it was a decent game for them to watch.”
