HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS 6 HULL KR 32
JOHN DAVIDSON, Accu Stadium, Sunday

HULL KR bounced back from their Las Vegas nightmare with a dominant win which condemned Huddersfield to their fourth consecutive defeat of the new season.

The defending champions were pumped by Leeds in the United States but posted their first victory of the Super League campaign with a six-try pummelling of the Giants, whose woes continued with a poor display marked by numerous errors.

Huddersfield swapped wingers, with Connor Carr replacing injured Sam Halsall from their defeat at Castleford, while Kieran Rush started at hooker in the place of the concussed Zac Woolford.

The Giants also named Tom Burgess starting at prop, with Fenton Rogers moving to the bench, while Matty English started in front of substitute Tristan Powell and Mathieu Cozza joined the interchanges.

Hull KR were almost unchanged from Vegas with only Tom Amone moving to the bench, Dean Hadley shifting to the front row and Karl Lawton instead starting in the second row.

It was an electric start for Hull KR with Oliver Gildart diving under a tackle and getting the ball down for the opening try after a mere three minutes. Mikey Lewis was unable to add the extras from out wide.

Huddersfield went close to hitting back in the 13th minute, but good scrambling defence shoved Jack Billington into touch.

Attacking opportunities were rare until the 23rd minute when the Giants should have passed to their free outside man, but the ball was not thrown.

Hull KR made almost them pay, after George King gave away a penalty, but Jez Litten couldn’t handle Lewis’ offload.

Huddersfield then dropped the ball, gifting the visitors’ great possession, which led to Tom Davies’ diving over in the corner.

Lewis made no mistake this time from the sideline, taking the score to 10-0.

The error-prone Giants were under attack now, and despite some desperate defence, they couldn’t stop a beautiful Tyrone May pass out wide for Joe Burgess to score the Robins’ third try of the afternoon.

Rhyse Martin took over kicking duties to move Hull KR’s lead to 16-0 at half-time.

Huddersfield needed to start the second half strongly, however, they did anything but.
Lewis quickly dummied and stepped his way through some weak defence for a great solo try.

Martin’s kick made it a 22-0 lead, and it was almost game over for the home side with 36 minutes still to go.

George Flanagan’s miraculous leap and try under the sticks soon after gave the Giants some hope.

Oliver Russell converted it, but Flanagan injured himself in the process of scoring.

Hull KR responded in kind, working down the field with a flowing moment that ended with Davies crossing.

Martin’s conversion attempt was missed, but the visitors still maintained a 20-point buffer.

It got worse for the Giants when Matty English limped off after a careless tackle, for which Karl Lawton was sin-binned.

But even with an extra man, they couldn’t take advantage, with Lewis securing his brace late on as the Robins cruised to victory.

GAMESTAR: Joe Burgess was everywhere in attack and defence, working hard.

GAMEBREAKER: Mikey Lewis’ try right after half-time was a dagger in Huddersfield hearts.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: George Flanagan’s leap and score was the only bright spot in a dark day for the Giants.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Joe Burgess (Hull KR)
2 pts Mikey Lewis (Hull KR)
1 pt Jez Litten (Hull KR)

MATCHFACTS

GIANTS
21 George Flanagan
24 Connor Carr
3 Jacob Gagai
4 Taane Milne
29 Tanguy Zenon
6 Tui Lolohea
32 Oliver Russell
23 Chris Patolo
18 Kieran Rush
10 Tom Burgess
11 Asher O’Donnell
22 Jack Billington
15 Matty English
Subs (all used)
8 Tristan Powell
14 Fenton Rogers
16 George King
20 Mathieu Cozza
18th man (not used)
25 Jacob Algar
Also in 21-man squad
– Alex Chippendale
– Tom Hardy
– Zach Brown

Tries: Flanagan (53)
Goals: Russell 1/1

HULL KR
14 Jack Broadbent
2 Tom Davies
3 Peta Hiku
4 Oliver Gildart
5 Joe Burgess
6 Mikey Lewis
7 Tyrone May
11 Dean Hadley
9 Jez Litten
8 Sauaso Sue
12 James Batchelor
19 Karl Lawton
13 Elliot Minchella
Subs (all used)
10 Tom Amone
15 Sam Luckley
16 Jai Whitbread
17 Rhyse Martin
18th man (not used)
21 Noah Booth
Also in 21-man squad
18 Jack Brown
22 Bill Leyland
29 Tom Whitehead

Tries: Gildart (3), Davies (28, 57), Burgess (37), Lewis (43, 75)
Goals: Lewis 1/2, Martin 3/4
Sin bin: Lawton (54) – careless tackle

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-10, 0-16; 0-22, 6-22, 6-26, 6-32

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Man of the Match
Giants: Chris Patolo; Hull KR: Joe Burgess

Penalty count: 5-4
Half-time: 0-16
Referee: Tom Grant