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Huddersfield 36-6 Wakefield: Giants too strong for Trinity
Huddersfield defeated Wakefield 36-6 in their Super 8s clash on Friday night. Get a full report and reaction.
Match Stats: Huddersfield 36-6 Wakefield
Huddersfield tries: Brough (7), McIntosh (11), Hinchcliffe (27), Cudjoe (62), McGillvary (67), Smith (78)
Goals: Brough (11,27,32,56,62,78)
Wakefield tries: Williams (38)
Goals: Finn (38)
Match report
Danny Brough helped Huddersfield make a perfect start to their Super 8s campaign with a 36-6 derby victory over Wakefield.
Scrum-half Brough scored an early try and booted six goals, including two penalties, for a 16-point haul against one of his old clubs.
Chris Chester's visitors show no sign of ending their wretched form at this stage of the campaign, having lost all seven Super 8s fixtures in 2016.
Huddersfield only avoided an end-of-season relegation battle in the penultimate game of the regular season but they started superbly in an attempt to gain an unlikely semi-final play-off place, scoring three tries in the opening 27 minutes.
One-time Trinity playmaker Brough was tormentor in chief, starting and finishing the move for the game's opening try after seven minutes. The Scotland captain's kick was caught and dropped by winger Ben Jones-Bishop as he was trapped in-goal and Brough swooped on the loose ball.
The veteran half-back missed the conversion attempt but combined with full-back Jordan Rankin to send in winger Darnell McIntosh for an 11th-minute touchdown.
Wakefield's flank stars Jones-Bishop and Mason Caton-Brown were having a torrid time under the high ball but it was a midfield fumble that led to loose forward Ryan Hinchcliffe racing 30 metres to score the Giants' third try.
Brough converted and added a 32nd-minute penalty with Trinity in total disarray.
It was against the run of play that Sam Williams touched down a try goaled by Liam Finn in a rare Wakefield attack two minutes before the break so there was relief among home fans when, after a disjointed start to the second half, the Giants reopened a three-score lead with Brough's 56th-minute penalty.
Trinity never threatened to close the deficit and Huddersfield duly found a second wind to finish the game with three further tries.
England internationals Leroy Cudjoe and Jermaine McGillvary exploited weaknesses down the Trinity left flank to touch down and in the final minute Daniel Smith, another ex-Wakefield player, rubbed salt in the wounds with a barge-over score and Brough kicked his sixth goal.
Match reaction
Wakefield head coach Chris Chester on his side's lack of effort: "I have seen some things on a rugby field I have not seen for long, long time. I can cop getting beaten by a better side, but I can't cop getting beaten on desire and effort.
"That's two games on the bounce, probably our two most important games, we have fallen a long way short. We are in a bit of a hole and I can't put my finger on it. I wouldn't expect my under-16s or 19s teams to make some of those kinds of errors out there.
"We are killing ourselves. There are a few blokes out on that field who won't be playing next week. Yet we are still only two points out of the top four, crazy."
Huddersfield boss Rick Stone on his side's display: "It was a good start. Wakey are going to say they didn't play their best. And that's understandable. But our job was to get the Super 8s off to a winning start, especially at home.
"It was important for us, with a bit of momentum we have carried into this Super 8s, to show we can compete against the top eight. Hopefully we are going to have a bit of a crack at it. There were different times we weren't great. But if you look at the scoreline you would walk away thinking we were the dominant side on the night.
"We managed the ball and made fewer errors than the opposition which helped us with extra juice and field position. You are never going to be perfect all the time but overall our intent, desire and some of our execution was good."