Hull KR 16-38 Huddersfield
Huddersfield fought off a faulty floodlight to secure a convincing win over Hull KR at New Craven Park.
A brace from Danny Brough and an excellent cameo from interchange Luke Robinson gave the Giants the platform to return to winning ways. Despite falling behind to an early Kris Welham try, the visitors’ urgency and invention in possession were defining characteristics of this performance.
Jermaine McGillvary capitalised on the awareness of the Huddersfield half-backs who had identified an overlap out wide to score. Brough converted to peg back Hull KR’s early advantage.
Brough then put the visitors in front after a well-worked try from the play-the-ball area. David Faiumu scampered from dummy-half and offloaded the ball to Scott Grix, who then drew full-back Shaun Briscoe to send Brough racing clear under the posts.
Huddersfield were the more eager of the two during the interval. As murmurs of floodlight failure swept around New Craven Park the Giants were warming up ahead of the second-half, and their persistence was immediately rewarded. Kevin Brown’s delayed pass allowed Lee Gilmour to burst into space beyond Rovers’ back line and he found wing Michael Lawrence to extend the Giants’ lead.
Ben Fisher put the home side back into it with a try on 49 minutes that coupled with a late hit by Luke O’Donnell on the try scorer – and Willie Mason’s return from the bench – lifted the crowd.
Brough’s influence on the game started to increase and, on the last tackle, his chip found David Hodgson in space, but the wing’s pass inside went behind the support runner. The half-back then released Gilmour into space and on the final play of the set, forced a goal line drop out to mount the pressure on Rovers’ defence.
The bounce of the ball then went Brough’s way. His grubber deflected off the back of Briscoe into the path of Gilmour – who then hacked it forwards – and Brough pounced on the loose ball to secure his second try. This time, Brough was unable to convert, but it kept the two teams two converted tries apart at 22-10.
Welham then grabbed his second despite protests of obstruction from the visitors but a moment of brilliance from Luke Robinson settled the game. The hooker made a clean break from dummy-half and fed the inside support runner Grix to score.
The Brough and Robinson show continued as the pair were involved in Huddersfield scoring a further two tries in the final minutes. Robinson poached one from close range, and Brough then chipped over the top and re-gathered, before shipping the ball wide for Hodgson to touch down in the corner.
Hull KR: Briscoe, Fox, Welham, Hall, Webster, Green, Hodgson, Mason, Galea, Clinton, Murrell,
Netherton, Watts Subs: Lovegrove, Fisher, Taylor, Latus
Tries: Welham 3 and 67, Fisher 49
Goals: Hall 3, 67
Huddersfield: Grix, Hodgson, Cudjoe, Lawrence, McGillvary, Brown, Brough, Crabtree, Mason,
Gilmour, O’Donnell, Kirmond, Faiumu Subs: Robinson, Raleigh, Ferguson, Patrick
Tries: McGillvary 7, Brough 14 and 58, Lawrence 42, Grix 70, Robinson 77, Hodgson 80
Goals: Brough 7, 14, 42, 70, 77
Referee: Steve Ganson