Huddersfield 22-29 Catalans: Giants beaten by Dragons

Match Stats: Huddersfield 22-29 Catalans

Huddersfield tries: Murphy (13), Mamo (35), McGillvary (65), Wood (80)
Conversions/Penalties: Brough (13, 65 ,80) 

Catalans tries: Gigot (20), Wiliame (39), Myler (49), Duport (56), Walsh (60)
Conversions/Penalties: Walsh (20, 39, 49, 56)
Drop Goals: Gigot (76) 

Match Report

A man-of-the-match performance on his Super League debut by Australian Jake Mamo was not enough to prevent Huddersfield crashing to a 29-22 home defeat by Catalans Dragons.

The pony-tailed 22-year-old former Newcastle Knights full-back, who arrived in the country with a broken ankle, scored a try and produced a series of dashing runs on his eagerly-awaited first appearance for the Giants but it was scant consolation as they were left without a win in seven games.

The Dragons, who gave a debut to prop Lambert Belmas in the absence of Luke Burgess and Jason Baitieri, trailed 10-6 when Mamo scored his try on 35 minutes but they bossed the show in the second half to secure their second away win in six days.

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Huddersfield had no answer to the kicking game of half-backs Luke Walsh and Richie Myler or the series of offloads that had them constantly back-pedalling.

In a stop-start first half, the Catalans enjoyed the early pressure, with second rower Louis Anderson stopped short of the line and centre Krisnan Inu narrowly failing to touch down Myler's high kick.

Huddersfield took the lead on 12 minutes when Darnell McIntosh, switched to the wing to accommodate Mamo, palmed Danny Brough's kick into the arms of his centre Aaron Murphy and Brough converted the try from the touchline.

The visitors were soon level, however, as classy full-back Tony Gigot side-stepped his way through the Giants defence for his second try in two games since having his two-year anti-doping ban cut to three months.

Mamo restored his side's lead when he pounced on a loose ball following centre Sam Wood's speculative grubber kick but the crucial moment came just before half-time.

Substitute second rower Oliver Roberts smashed a hole in the Dragons defence only to lose the ball in his eventual tackle and the Catalans counter-attacked with venom, centre Brayden Wiliame showing a nice turn of pace to hold off the cover after being put through a gap by Myler's short pass.

Walsh's second goal gave the French side a 12-10 interval lead and they built on that early in the second half when Myler touched down Walsh's precise kick after they kept the ball alive on the last tackle.

Huddersfield's misery was compounded when acting captain Brough was sin-binned by referee Chris Campbell for dissent and the Catalans used the extra man to work winger Vincent Duport over for their fourth try after 55 minutes.

There was no way back for the home side when Walsh intercepted a pass from the returning Brough to scamper over for the clinching try five minutes later.

The Giants grabbed late consolation tries through England winger Jermaine McGillvary and Wood, both goaled from the touchline by Brough, while Gigot wrapped up his side's scoring with a drop goal.

Match Reaction

Huddersfield coach Rick Stone on his side's performance: "The players have got a bit of explaining to do about how they're managing games. I can't keep coming in here and defending them. They've got to start taking some responsibility for some of the things they're doing out on the field.

"If they don't start doing something about it, they're not going to win too many games. We can't keep serving teams games on a platter. We showed how to self-destruct in 20 minutes and it's increasingly frustrating. It digs us into a deeper hole."

On Danny Brough being sent to the sin bin for disputing referee Chris Campbell's decision to award the visitors a 20-metre re-start instead of a drop-out: "I can see Danny's frustration. It was a pretty pivotal part of the game. Krisnan Inu clearly takes the ball in the field of play, not the in-goal, and Danny has challenged the referee.

"He takes pride in putting his kicks in the right spot and, as captain he has got the right to ask, but eventually he has got to accept referee's decision and move on with it."

On the man-of-the-match performance from Mamo: "It was good to see Jake play. I thought he handled getting our defence right and he was potent when he got the footy. It was one positive from the night and he's only going to get better because he hasn't done a heap of running."

Dragons coach Laurent Frayssinous on his side's performance: "We spent a very good week in camp. We have had two very good performances away from home and I'm pretty proud of the boys.

"It was very important that we bounced back from losing by 40 at home to Wakefield and hopefully we can maintain that. It's about consistency."

On the return of Gigot: "He's a fantastic player. Structure wise with the team, he puts everyone in the right position and in attack he's very smart. He knows where he needs to be at any time.

"His fitness is not how I'd like to be yet but the combination with Richie Myler and Luke Walsh will get better and better."