Two late tries from Huddersfield hooker Davy Levi saw the Black & Whites fall to a gutting 22-16 defeat in West Yorkshire.
Hull led until the 74th minute of the game, but the late brace from the Giants hooker saw the Round 22 clash ultimately end in defeat for Brett Hodgson’s side, despite being defensively impressive in spells.
Tries from Jack Walker and Connor Wynne saw Hull lead at the break, with Ellis Longstaff extending Hull’s advantage after half-time, but a late surge from Ian Watson’s side saw Hull’s hopes dashed.
Team News
Brett Hodgson made three changes to the team that beat Toulouse last time out, with the returning Chris Satae, Joe Lovodua and Connor Wynne coming straight back into the side after injury, illness and suspension respectively.
That meant that Harvey Barron, Mitieli Vulikijapani and Jordan Johnstone were the unlucky players to make way.
Will Smith continued in the halves with Jake Connor named on the teamsheet at right centre, but given license to roam when Hull were attacking the Giants goalline.
Despite some relief coming in the form of the returning players, Hodgson was still without as many as nine senior players, including Ligi Sao, Manu Ma’ and Josh Griffin.
Ian Watson welcomed back Tui Lolohea and Leroy Cudjoe to his team after both players missed the Giants comeback victory over Warrington Wolves last week.
They replaced the suspended Olly Russell and Matty English who dropped out of the side, with former Hull player Josh Jones moving back to his customary position at left back row from centre and Will Pryce moving from full back to stand off.
The Match
In a tense first half Brett Hodgson would have been much the happier of the two coaches, as Hull went in at the break with a 10 – 0 lead.
The Black & Whites started with a bang, as Jack Walker crossed for the games opening try in the first five minutes.
Hull won the arm wrestle in the opening exchanges and made the most of their territory. Will Smith kicked infield on the last tackle for Scott Taylor who couldn’t quite get to the ball, but forced a knock on from Tui Lolohea. On the first play from the scrum the Black & Whites moved the ball wide and Will Smith picked the right option in Jack Walker to dive over in the corner after a brief scare as he juggled the ball!
Huddersfield perhaps had the better of the rest of the first half, forcing three goal line drop outs, but Hull’s defence was more than up to the task with only Luke Yates really testing the Hull line five minutes before the break, but he was held up by good work from Ellis Longstaff and Will Smith.
The next play for Huddersfield was a kick for a seven tackle set, and Hull made that extra play count.
Luke Gale recognised space on the Hull left, sending a long pass wide to Jordan Lane who found a half break and passed to Jack Walker to continued the march towards the line, before an offload to Danny Houghton. Houghton’s pass to Connor Wynne was inch perfect, and the youngster crossed on his return from suspension.
In the celebrations Will Smith was adjudged to have pushed a Huddersfield player off the ball and was sent to the sin bin, before Luke Gale nailed his conversion from the touchline.
Half Time: Huddersfield Giants 10-0 Hull FC
In a half that Huddersfield had by far the superiority in terms of field position and territory, it took until the final five minutes of the match for the Black & Whites defence to finally break.
In the opening set of the half Leroy Cudjoe had an effort held up, and most of the rest of the half was to follow a similar pattern, with Hull’s defence holding firm against a relentless Giants side.
Tui Lolohea scored Huddersfield’s first try of the half on the last tackle with Hull down to 12 men, as Theo Fages went down the shortside, Leroy Cudjoe found a basketball style offload to Lolohea and he managed to cross untouched, with Will Pryce converting from the touchline.
Hull hit back shortly afterwards, with probably their only goodball set of the half, as Jake Connor kicked in behind the Giants defence for Ellis Longstaff to chase and ground, showing great composure.
That was as good as things were to get with ball in hand during the second half, as Hull continued to face and withstand pressure from the hosts, with several efforts held up and drop outs forced.
Huddersfield’s second try of the half came from a Hull error, as Tui Lolohea’s 40/20 attempt was kept in by Jack Walker, but in his attempts to field the ball back to Darnell McIntosh the pass from the loanee travelled forwards.
Theo Fages made the most of the territory, scoring on the first play from the scrum, with Pryce again on target.
Huddersfield continued to press and in the last minute finally the pressure told as Danny Levi scored a brace of tries from dummy half on the Hull line, the second of which came as the full time hooter sounded.
Full Time: Huddersfield Giants 22 – 16 Hull FC
The Lineups:
Huddersfield Giants: Tui Lolohea, Ashton Golding, Toby King, Leroy Cudjoe, Innes Senior, Will Pryce, Theo Gages, Oliver Wilson, Adam O’Brien, Owen Trout, Josh Jones, Chris McQueen, Luke Yates; Danny Levi, Jack Ashworth, Joe Greenwood, Sam Hewitt
Hull FC: Jack Walker, Darnell McIntosh, Jake Connor, Connor Wynne, Josh Simm, Will Smith, Luke Gale, Scott Taylor, Danny Houghton, Kane Evans, Jordan Lane, Ellis Longstaff, Brad Fash; Chris Satae, Jack Brown, Joe Lovodua, Matty Laidlaw
The Scorers:
Huddersfield Giants: Tui Lolohea, Theo Fages, Danny Levi (2) | Will Pryce (3/4)
Hull FC: Jack Walker, Connor Wynne, Ellis Longstaff | Luke Gale (2/3)
Campbell Engineering Man of the Match: Jack Walker
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