What Luke Robinson had to say following Huddersfield Giants defeat to Catalans Dragons in Perpignan

Huddersfield Giants boss Luke Robinson has shared his thoughts following his side’s 32-0 defeat to Catalans Dragons in the south of France.

The Giants couldn’t get a foothold on the game from the very start, and considering recent performances, Robinson was disappointed with his team’s performance.

Whilst results have always gone their way in recent weeks, his side have been able to string some decent attacking plays together, especially with the players returning from injury.

However, a trip to Perpignan felt like that hard work came undone, and a 32-0 defeat was tough to take for the Huddersfield boss.

Speaking to the media after the match, he said: “Obviously, I’m not happy, but I just thought we were beat to the punch. I thought, physically, they started stronger.

“Sometimes we complicate the game, but generally when you run harder and tackle harder, then good things happen for you.

“I thought the way we started the game, our transitions were horrendous. We gave away penalties on the fifth and last tackle so they were coming out of our yardage, which put them on our line.

“There were periods within the game where we’d do some good stuff defensively and let ourselves down right at the very last minute. That transition, that moment from attack to defence and then defence to attack, really hurt us, especially in these conditions.”

The Huddersfield Giants boss also questioned his side’s ability to get penalties off the referee, feeling that the penalty count was a little too one-sided in favour of the Dragons.

He added: “It was 4-0 penalties at half time, I actually think the penalties he gave against us were right, it’s the ones we don’t get at the moment, seem to be the ones we don’t get that I’m perplexed about.

“When you are 4-0 down on the penalty count, you’re inevitably going to lose field position. Look, I think we’ve got to take some ownership on ourselves, we’ve got to find a way of making them give us a penalty, we’ve got to force the ref’s hand to give us one.

“When you don’t get one, you don’t get any field position. I’m frustrated and disappointed because the stuff we’ve been doing over the last three weeks has been really good.”

Huddersfield Giants boss previews trip to Castleford Tigers next and shares injury news

Perhaps the only positive to take from the game was no more injuries for the Giants, which is a blessing after their injury crisis so far this season.

Robinson admitted that it wasn’t exactly a highlight, but it will help them with a short turnaround to face Castleford on Thursday night.

He said: “If there can be some positives out of that game. I think there were a few people who went into that with a few things, but they came out no worse, shall we say?

“We’re going to need as many fresh bodies as we can because we’ve got a torrid turnaround now. We go to Castleford away on Thursday night, so it’s going to be a really short turnaround for us.

“We need to dust ourselves down pretty quickly. This week is all about recovery.”

Whilst many have questioned his ability to motivate his players, the Huddersfield Giants coach said that the players should also take some accountability themselves.

He finished: “Any player worth their salt, if they don’t get motivated after that, then they probably don’t deserve to be wearing the Giants jersey.

“The players have been brilliant this year; they’ve had a lot of obstacles to face. Very rarely have I questioned our effort, our desire. I don’t think I need to motivate them, they know how I feel.”