Super League: Hull FC 22-10 Huddersfield Giants
- Published
Hull's Josh Griffin was the second Huddersfield old boy of the afternoon at Headingley to score against his former club
Betfred Super League |
|---|
Hull (12) 22 |
Tries: Connor, Griffin, Reynolds Goals: Sneyd 5 |
Huddersfield (0) 10 |
Tries: Leutele, Gavet Goals: Russell |
Brett Hodgson got off to a winning start as Hull FC boss as his Black and Whites beat Huddersfield Giants in some comfort at Emerald Headingley.
Two converted first-half tries from Jake Connor and Josh Griffin earned Hull a 12-0 half-time lead.
Marc Sneyd, who also kicked five goals, then set up new man Josh Reynolds for the killer third try to make it 22-0.
Ricky Leutele and James Gavet scored tries late on to give the scoreboard some gloss but it was too late.
And it meant defeat for former Salford boss Ian Watson, who was also taking charge of his first game.
Former Huddersfield and Warrington full-back Hodgson was appointed at Hull in November, just a week after Watson took charge of the Giants.
After a well matched opening, Hull were always in control from the moment they went ahead with two tries in the space of five minutes around the midpoint of the first half.
Connor, deputising impressively at full-back for long-term injury absentee Jamie Shaul, weaved his way in on the right on 17 minutes for his third try against his old club
Then five minutes later centre Josh Griffin, also up against his former club, changed direction to crash over on the left.
Both were converted by captain Marc Sneyd, who then added an early second-half penalty. And it was Sneyd's clever close-range kick through that took Hull out of sight just past the hour.
New signing Josh Reynolds lost his shorts but not his cool as his third try helped Hull victory at Emerald Headingley
His fellow half-back Reynolds was sharpest to react to Sneyd's deft left-foot grubber and the winter signing from Australian side Wests Tigers got there first to touch down.
Sneyd added the two, then another penalty to stretch the Black and Whites' lead out to 22-0 before Huddersfield finally got on the scoreboard with 12 minutes left.
Former NRL Grand Final winner Leutele got over on the left and then Gavet ran on to score from the final play.
But it was not a great start to the season for Watson's Giants, who had six debutants on show - former Toronto centre Leutele, who finished the game with a suspected broken hand, Luke Yates, Joe Greenwood, James Cunningham, Jack Cogger and Hull old boy Josh Jones.
Hull coach Brett Hodgson:
"We did a lot of work on our defensive system in the close season and it showed.
"The pleasing thing is we shut out the game in the middle part of that second half, although they got a couple of late ones.
"Playing at full-back gives Jake Connor that licence to be where he feels the threat is. He will continue improving but he's got the natural skill to play anywhere.
Huddersfield coach Ian Watson:
"Aiden Sezer had a little tweak on Tuesday. It wasn't worth risking him. If we put him out there, the risk is he then misses six to eight weeks, whereas if you keep him out this week, he is probably right going forward for the rest of the season. You don't win anything in game one.
"We made too many simple little errors. It was not down to Aiden not being there. The players were good enough to win that game without Aiden.
"We didn't manage the conditions well in the first half and in the second half our ball control was really disappointing. There were certain things to be positive about and certain things we need a lot more work on. The first few weeks of the season is all about bedding in."
Hull FC: Connor; Fonua, Tuimavave, Griffin, Swift; Reynolds, Sneyd; Satae, Houghton, Sao, Savelio, Ma'u, Lane.
Interchange: Taylor, Cator, Bowden, Scott.
Huddersfield: Gaskell; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Leutele, McIntosh; Cogger, Russell; Yates, Cunningham, Gavet, McQueen, Greenwood, Jones.
Interchange: O'Brien, Edwards, English, Wilson.
Referee: Robert Hicks (RFL).