Super League: Huddersfield Giants 16-26 Warrington Wolves - Wire make it two from two
- Published
Peter Mata'utia opened the scoring for Warrington Wolves with his first try of the season
Betfred Super League |
|---|
Huddersfield (0) 16 |
Tries: Greenwood, Pryce, Naiqama Goals: Pryce 2 |
Warrington (8) 26 |
Tries: Mata'utia, Harrison, Ashton 2 Goals: Ratchford 5 |
Warrington Wolves held off a late Huddersfield Giants resurgence to make it two Super League wins in a row.
Peter Mata'utia sent the Wire ahead with the only try of the first half.
James Harrison padded out Warrington's lead after the break but Joe Greenwood crossed to put the hosts on the board.
Matty Ashton went in to put Warrington further in front and touched down again just six minutes later, but Will Pryce and a debut try from Kevin Naiqama gave the Wire plenty to think about.
The visitors took the lead inside the opening 10 minutes when Mata'utia was sent in courtesy of George Williams' fine kick towards goal.
Mata'utia's score was the pick of a quiet first half, with Stefan Ratchford's penalty giving them an eight-point cushion at the break as an unchanged Huddersfield side struggled to get going.
Harrison's score had sent the visitors further ahead but Giants finally touched down following some good work from Nathan Peats, whose short pass to Greenwood sent him through.
Warrington were unperturbed by Greenwood's score however, with Ashton scoring two quickfire tries in sensational fashion.
His first came courtesy of a crashing run down the wing to touch down while his second came as he raced in following an interception, but Pryce and former St Helens centre Naiqama, who touched down for his first try since returning to Super League, ensured Warrington did not have it all their way.
The Wire have now won both their matches this season and scored 11 tries in the process.
Huddersfield, meanwhile, opened their 2023 campaign with a defeat, having not been in action during the first weekend as they were scheduled to face St Helens - who were in Australia playing in the World Club Challenge.
Huddersfield Giants boss Ian Watson told BBC Radio Leeds:
"I thought it was a really good game. For a first game of the season, it was as good quality as you could have got. It was a real arm wrestle but we shot ourselves in the foot too many times.
"You don't want to concede 26 points and a lot of those were of our own downfall. I thought it was a really high quality end.
"We had some really good signs about us but it's just some little areas that we need to tidy up."
Warrington Wolves head coach Daryl Powell told BBC Radio Merseyside:
"To keep them out like we did was phenomenal. It was a tough game.
"Our middle unit was phenomenal. The whole team has been outstanding all the way through the first three games in pre-season and they've been class.
"For us to come here and win with about 37% territory - that is tough, so we've done a good job."
Huddersfield: Lolohea; McGillvary, Marsters, Naiqama, Cudjoe; Pryce, Fages; Hill, Peats, Wilson, McQueen, Jones, Yates.
Interchanges: Trout, Golding, English, Greenwood, Bibby.
Warrington: Dufty; Thewlis, Mata'utia, Ratchford, Ashton; Williams, Drinkwater; Mikaele, D Clark, Vaughan, Currie, Holroyd, Harrison.
Interchanges: Kasiano, Walker, Bullock, Minikin, Whitehead.
Referee: Chris Kendall.
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