Super League: Hull FC 22-56 Huddersfield Giants - Adam Swift hat-trick sparks rout
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Betfred Super League |
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Hull FC (10) 22 |
Tries: Sutcliffe 2, Brown, Pele Goals: Charles 3 |
Huddersfield (40) 56 |
Tries: Swift 3, Murchie, Marsters, Yates, Naiqama, Lolohea 2, Bibby Goals: Connor 7, Lolohea |
Adam Swift's hat-trick set Huddersfield on the way to another big win over Hull FC, this time in Super League.
A fortnight after their 50-6 Challenge Cup victory, the Giants racked up another huge score with 10 tries in a rampant performance.
Hull hoped to build on their improved display against Hull KR, but crumbled and suffered three sin-binnings.
Defeat leaves the Airlie Birds second to bottom with one win in seven, while Huddersfield break into the top six.
Hull were again their own worst enemies, a succession of penalties keeping them on the back foot.
Ligi Sao had two second-half spells in the sin-bin, with Jack Brown also getting a yellow card in the first 40 minutes.
Giants were ahead inside a minute as Swift finished in the corner but Hull were lifted as Liam Sutcliffe scored his first try of the season.
Jack Charles was one of three teenagers used by home coach Tony Smith in the game, with Lewis Martin starting on the left wing and Logan Moy having a bright debut at full-back off the bench.
Martin suffered a harsh early lesson, though, as he lost the ball in the tackle to gift Swift his second try, before Jack Murchie pounced on Adam Clune's grubber to put Huddersfield clear.
Sutcliffe hit back with another try from Charles' sweet kick, but it was a brief interruption as Esan Marsters and Swift went over and Luke Yates marked his 150th career appearance with another try.
With Brown in the bin for a dangerous tackle, Huddersfield scored their seventh try of the first half through Kevin Naiqama to go in 40-10 up.
Hull improved greatly in the second half of Good Friday's derby at Hull KR to prevent a rout there, but there was little let-up in this game, even though Franklin Pele's run set up Fa'amanu Brown for the first try after the break.
Tui Lolohea added two more tries either side of Sao's first sin-binning and after Pele had bullocked through for his first Hull try, Jake Bibby rounded off the scoring in the corner.
Hull coach Tony Smith told BBC Radio Humberside:
"At this level, if you're not good enough for long enough periods of time, you get hurt. It's self-inflicted pain at times.
"We can go for five to 10 minutes and put sustained pressure on our opponents and sometimes they crack, but we can't keep them out long enough to get ahead on the scoreboard and add some pressure that way. When we get to that point we'll know we've turned some corners.
"We are hurting ourselves. Some of that is discipline, some is habits that need to be broken, but under pressure you tend to revert to what you've always done.
"I'm putting some young players in there at the moment to bring some energy, people who are enthusiastic, and we might keep doing that, if we can manage not to have too many at one time."
Huddersfield coach Ian Watson told BBC Radio Leeds:
"It was a really good professional performance. We came here last year and it disrupted our year because we came here travelling OK and Hull were on a losing streak of seven games and we got turned over. So we wanted to make sure we had a real focus on defending well, attacking well and doing all the right things going forward.
"In the first half we were outstanding and clinical in what we did. We completed 19 out of 19 sets in the first half, which is tough for any team to defend against.
[On Adam Swift]: "He's unreal. He's been outstanding for us this year, a real top player. He's got a nasty knock to his eye which we'll have to get checked out."
Hull FC: Hoy, McIntosh, Scott, Sutcliffe, Martin, Charles, Smith, Ese'ese, F. Brown, Pele, Okunbor, Sao, Lane
Interchanges: J. Brown, Cator, Laidlaw, Moy
Huddersfield: Connor, Bibby, Marsters, Naiqama, Swift, Lolohea, Clune, English, Milner, Wilson, Murchie, Cudjoe, Yates
Interchanges: Golding, Greenwood, Ikahihifo, Rushton
Referee: Tom Grant