HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS 22 SALFORD RED DEVILS 8
JACOB KILBRIDE, Accu Stadium, Sunday
HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS hit back from 8-0 down to ensure a victory for retiring club legend Leroy Cudjoe, who marked his last outing on home soil by kicking a late goal.
The term legend is often bandied about far too readily in sport, but the former England international more than matches that description, amassing more than 400 appearances for his hometown club in an 18-year first-team career.
Three late tries saw Huddersfield home and lifted them above Castleford into tenth ahead of the final round of fixtures.
While the future of Salford Red Devils is incredibly uncertain, coach Paul Rowley and his makeshift crew of players remain alive and fighting on the field.
Leading until the final ten minutes, the army of loud travelling fans were dreaming of what would have been only a fourth win of the year, but their side fell away.
Whatever happens once the curtain is drawn on a nightmarish 2025, this group of players have shown a remarkable level of grit and fight.
Indeed, Salford got off to a flying start. Four Huddersfield defenders appeared enough to stop Justin Sangare from a Joe Mellor short pass, but the Frenchman still found a gap on seven minutes.
Rowan Milnes added the extras and opened up an 8-0 lead with a penalty-goal midway through the first half after Kieran Rush was caught offside.
Huddersfield appeared to have spurned their hopes of a late first-half fightback when Oliver Russell’s meek grubber on the back of a six-again and two penalties inside the Salford ten was easily cleaned up.
The territorial pressure did eventually tell though. Russell hung up a kick which the returning Adam Swift – in his first outing since July – patted back into Joe Greenwood’s hands before Ashton Golding shimmied his way over. But George Flanagan struck a post from the tee, leaving the hosts 8-4 behind.
In the second half, Salford had a couple of early half-chances, a Milnes wide kick headed just shy of Neil Tchamambe’s grasp while a goal-line drop-out produced a scrappy last play.
That was as good as the second half got for the Rowley’s side, whose persistent loose ball handling meant they rarely escaped their own half.
Fortunately for them, profligate Huddersfield largely wasted the prime field position.
An over-hit Russell kick and a misplaced Cudjoe pass went beyond Jacob Gagai’s grasp, while the video referee confirmed that Tom Burgess was short with his attempted twist across the whitewash.
The accumulation of errors and subsequent Huddersfield possession eventually told as Luke Robinson’s side notched back-to-back tries to break Salford hearts.
From Tchamambe’s mistake, Russell delivered a cut-out pass to Swift, who bounced off Nathan Connell to spin over, with Flanagan converting, before the returning Tristan Powell’s bulldozing carry got Huddersfield within 20 metres and Gagai finished Russell’s wide kick.
A late clash between Tiaki Chan and Flanagan led to the pair spending the remainder of the contest in the sin bin.
In the closing seconds, Cudjoe was finally granted his moment, knocking over a simple conversion from in front of the posts after Rush dived over from George King’s midfield break.
GAMESTAR: Huddersfield hooker Zac Woolford was a consistent running threat from dummy-half and topped his display with a decisive scoot to set up Kieran Rush’s late score, via the hands of George King.
GAMEBREAKER: There was no way back for Salford when Jacob Gagai finished off the latter of Huddersfield’s back-to-back tries down the left edge from Oliver Russell’s wide kick.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: Arguably the afternoon’s loudest cheer came when the Huddersfield supporters witnessed Leroy Cudjoe line up a late conversion, with his teammates jumping all over the veteran in celebration when he landed the kick.
ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Zac Woolford (Huddersfield)
2 pts Jack Walker (Salford)
1 pt Joe Greenwood (Huddersfield)
GIANTS
29 George Flanagan
2 Adam Swift
3 Jake Bibby
1 Jacob Gagai
5 Sam Halsall
27 Kieran Rush
36 Oliver Russell
10 Tom Burgess
9 Zac Woolford
21 Leroy Cudjoe
25 Jack Billington
17 Joe Greenwood
13 Harry Rushton
Subs (all used)
14 Ashton Golding
16 George King
18 Fenton Rogers
22 Tristan Powell
18th man (not used)
23 Taane Milne
Also in 21-man squad
15 Matty English
24 Aidan McGowan
37 Marshall Land
Tries: Golding (36), Swift (70), Gagai (73), Rush (80)
Goals: Flanagan 2/3, Cudjoe 1/1
Sin bin: Flanagan (76) – skirmish
RED DEVILS
70 Jack Walker
65 Neil Tchamambe
66 Louix Gorman
64 Jack Darbyshire
28 Nathan Connell
17 Esan Marsters
69 Rowan Milnes
19 Justin Sangare
9 Joe Meller
30 Tiaki Chan
52 Dan Russell
67 Leon Ruan
24 Harvey Wilson
Subs (all used)
3 Nene Macdonald
21 Sam Davis
50 Toby Warren
72 Isaac Shaw
18th man (not used)
57 Declan Murphy
Also in 21-man squad
27 Kai Morgan
29 Charlie Glover
51 Sam Hill
Tries: Sangare (7)
Goals: Milnes 2/2
Sin bin: Chan (76) – skirmish
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-8, 4-8; 10-8, 16-8, 22-8
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Giants: Zac Woolford; Red Devils: Jack Walker
Penalty count: 3-6
Half-time: 4-8
Referee: Scott Mikalauskas
Attendance: 4,082