HUDDERSFIELD coach Ian Watson is keeping a lid on any premature celebrations following Saturday night’s stunning win in Perpignan and the club’s progression to a Challenge Cup semi-final.
The Giants crushed Catalans 34-6 but Watson is keen to stress that they haven’t won anything yet and he’s keeping his players’ feet firmly on the ground.
He told League Express: “I was brought up on the history of the Challenge Cup; it’s a huge competition and I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in two finals.
“Hopefully we can get there again and compete to win it and we’ll take great confidence from this. But it’s important that we stick to the process and continue to build week-on-week, like we have done so far this year.”
Watson admitted that he was disappointed that Saturday’s game wasn’t covered by TV or radio, leaving thousands of Giants fans who couldn’t travel to the game in the dark as to events at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
He added: “For me, you want it on TV, it’s a prestigious trophy, one that’s steeped in history and it deserves to be shown.
“It’s massive, when you look back and talk about what people remember about our game, it’s Henderson Gill scoring Wembley tries, Martin Offiah and Ellery Hanley playing for Wigan and Leeds creating special occasions and we want to see them on TV.
“I’m not sure why it’s not been covered and that’s probably for someone way above me to be answering those questions.”
Watson was thrilled by his team’s dominant display over the Super League leaders and the 14-point contribution from star fullback Jake Connor.
He added: “Jake’s been pretty good since the start of the season; he’s not been getting the headlines so far but his kicking game has been phenomenal and he’s been playing his skills at the right times.
“He’s really bought into what we want him to do for the team and that’s the most pleasing thing. It’s not just about getting the ball to him to see what he can do, it’s what he is doing for the team and he certainly did that today.”
Watson reported no serious injury concerns from Saturday’s game, adding: “We got a couple of knocks and we had to do some jigging about during the game but we’ve got Ash Golding on the bench and he’s like our Swiss utility knife and he’s great at whatever we ask him to do.
“We’ll assess things when we get home as we prepare for the trip to Leeds on Friday.”
