Huddersfield Giants 56-12 Wakefield

The return of Jamie Rooney from what initially was thought to be a six-week lay-off was not enough to prevent Huddersfield Giants from getting their season underway with a 56-12 win over Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.

Kevin Brown claimed a hat-trick of tries, and the Giants ran in 10 touch downs in total to claim their first win of the season in dramatic style and state their intention to climb the table.

The home side opened the scoring after just three minutes through Steve Wild, Brad Drew adding the conversion before crossing for a try of his own, again adding the conversion, after ten minutes.

And the Giants had effectively ended the game as a contest  by half time after further tries from Robbie Paul, Brown and Martin Aspinwall and two goals from Drew opened up a 28-0 lead.

However, Wakefield got themselves onto the scoresheet before the interval, Richard Moore crossing on the hooter and Rooney adding the conversion to reduce the gaping deficit by six points.

Huddersfield did not let up the flow of one-way traffic after the break, tries from Andy Raleigh, Stuart Jones and two more from Brown, all converted by Chris Thorman, opening up a 46-6 lead within the first 15 minutes.

One final unconverted try from Paul Reilly after 68 minutes completed the scoring for the home side, with only a try from Matt Blaymire converted by Rooney left to add comfort for the ravelling Wakefield support.