Super League: Huddersfield Giants 17-16 Toulouse Olympique

Sam Hewitt drew the Giants level in the first half

Jack Cogger's late drop-goal helped Huddersfield fight back to beat bottom side Toulouse and avoid a surprise defeat at the John Smith's Stadium.

Sam Hewitt cancelled out Olly Ashall-Bott's score, but Romain Navarrete gave Toulouse a 12-6 half-time lead.

Matty Russell went over for the French side before Innes Senior's try and Tui Lolohea's second goal made it 16-12.

Senior cracked the Toulouse resistance to level before Cogger's kick from 20 metres won it with three minutes left.

Fourth-placed Huddersfield head to Wembley on Saturday for the Challenge Cup final on the back of a fourth straight win, but it was tough on Toulouse who remain two points adrift at the bottom.

Buoyed by their second win of the season against Wakefield, and with Australian full-back Corey Norman making his debut, Toulouse went ahead when former Giant Ashall-Bott ran on to Lucas Albert's measured grubber-kick for his third try in two matches.

Huddersfield struggled to find their rhythm before the break, but levelled when Hewitt cashed in on Lolohea's grubber-kick to touch down.

Yet parity lasted less than two minutes as Navarrete broke through a huge gap on halfway and then beat Lolohea in a 50-metre sprint for the line to put the French side back in front.

Huddersfield continued to look flat after the break and Russell put Toulouse further ahead after good work from Chris Hankinson and Justin Sangare.

Senior came into the side in place of his twin brother Louis despite his hat-trick against Wigan last weekend, and his try sparked the Giants into life after a fine assist from Ricky Leutele.

Toulouse showed resilience as they continue to progress in their maiden Super League campaign, but Senior finally broke them down with his second try with seven minutes left.

Lolohea's missed conversion left the scores tied, but in a tense finale, Cogger kept his cool to make it six wins from seven on home turf this season as the Giants closed to within five points of leaders St Helens.

Huddersfield head coach Ian Watson told BBC Radio Leeds:

"I thought Toulouse were really good, especially in the first half. I thought Corey Norman massively added to them so they're going to be a threat going forward.

"We were really sloppy in the first half, but second half I thought we were a different team, the mentality - we were us second half.

"What we want to be is a top team so you can't, a week before a cup final, just drop off standards and look for it the week after.

"We will have learned a big lesson from that game, but I thought Toulouse were outstanding in what they did."

Toulouse head coach Sylvain Houles:

"It's a tough one to take. We dug deep and fought hard, I feel for the boys - I think they deserved more than that.

"Huddersfield are a top-four team and are playing in the cup final next week, but we competed pretty well with them. The game was there for us.

"We've been competitive at home with every team and we know what we need to do to compete in Super League. We showed that tonight."

Huddersfield: Hill, Levi, Wilson, Hewitt, Jones, Yates, Russell, Cogger, I Senior, Leutele, Cudjoe, McGillivary, Lolohea.

Interchanges: Golding, Trout, Greenwood, Ikahihifo.

Toulouse: Navarrete, Marion, Alvaro, Stefani, Dixon, Puech, Albert, Norman, Russell, Hankinson, Jussaume, Schaumkel, Ashall-Bott.

Interchanges: Cunningham, Hansen, Sangare, Garbutt.

Referee: Jack Smith

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