Huddersfield 19 St Helens 16: Huddersfield's victory heroics earn Sharp praise
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Daniel Anderson never believed for a moment that his St Helens' side could go through the Super League season unbeaten, but he can hardly have expected their run to end at Huddersfield on Saturday night.
The Saints' coach, already without influential players like Jason Cayless and Jamie Lyon, chose to rest Sean Long and started with other potential match-winners in Leon Pryce and Keiron Cunningham on the bench.
Even with an inexperienced pair of young halfbacks, however, Saints should have been confident of beating a Huddersfield side on a run of five defeats. What they had not allowed for was a huge improvement from the Giants, who worked relentlessly for a well-deserved if highly improbable win.
"I am really pleased with the way we've reacted over the last two weeks,'' said their coach, the former Saints assistant, Jon Sharp.
With the former St Helens forward Keith Mason making a sound debut in a hard-working pack, Huddersfield were clearly in the mood from the start. Paul March, standing in for their injured playmaker Chris Thorman, supplied the pass for Michael De Vere's eighth-minute try.
Saints scratched their way into the lead at the start of the second half but were never convincing, so it was only in tune with proceedings when March and Brad Drew put together some dazzling interplay for Stuart Donlan to score, with March himself sealing victory 10 minutes from time.
There was a late Saints rally but their supporters were left with just one consolation. Huddersfield's two points makes Wigan's plight at the foot of the table look even more dismal.
Huddersfield: Reilly; Aspinwall, Evans, De Vere, Donlan; March, Paul; Mason, Drew, Gannon, Smith, Raleigh, Jones. Substitutes used: Crabtree, Jackson, McDonald, Gardner.
St Helens: Wellens; Gardner, V Anderson, Talau, Meli; Moore, Smith; Fozzard, Roby, Graham, Wilkin, Sculthorpe, Hooper. Substitutes used: Pryce, Cunningham, P Anderson, Fa'asavalu.
Referee: P Bentham (Warrington).
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments