THE Reserves continued their fine run of form running in 13 tries to completely overwhelm a poor Giants side 68-8 writes Graham Henthorne.
Led by four try Dan Brotherton the Saints were just too good for the cellar dwellers and maintained their slim hopes a top six finish.
Nathan Ashe was at his imperious best in the first quarter notching both of the Saints tries.
The first, after only four minutes came courtesy of Carl Forster’s charge down the centre of the field and offload to the supporting standoff.
He again showed a clean pair of heels to the despairing cover scoring his second after a great move involving Joe Greenwood, Ben Karalius and Tommy Johnson.
In between the Giants had caught the Saints on the overlap, but three tries in the final ten minutes put the game out of their reach.
Josh Jones intercepted on his own 10 finally being hauled down five metres short. Brotherton benefited from the quick play the ball to open his account in the corner.
A big tackle from Alex Trumper gave the Saints possession in the Giants half. Josh Jones was stopped short on the right but as the ball was shifted left his compatriot centre Mark Percival strolled through a yawning gap for his first.
The forwards were punching massive holes down the middle almost at will and two such runs from Ste Lucas and Forster allowed Marcus Baines to use the momentum and scamper in from dummy half.
The talk at half time was not to have the 10 minutes lapse that has characterised the last two performances but to go full out for a full 80, and that is exactly what Coach Ian Talbot got.
Forster got a deserved try to open the second half and when Brotherton collected a gem of a kick to the corner from Ben Karalius the Giants were a spent force.
Percival showed his talent side stepping his way over down the left and Brotherton jumped highest for his second again from Karalius’ kick.
A second lapse in concentration gave the Giants a second try on an overlap but four tries in the final 10 minutes showed the gulf in class.
Aaron Lloyd started the avalanches emulating his hooking colleague in darting over from dummy half before Jordan Hand got a well deserved first try of the season barging over from Ashe’s pass.
Brotherton intercepted and went 90 metres to the posts and still had chance to spurn his fifth giving Percival a pass at the line for his hat-trick.
The willingness of the pack to cart the ball in coupled with relentless aggressive defence produced a platform that the visitors couldn’t cope with.
Walker and Forster were outstanding, Greenwood, Trumper and Danny Jones produced many a break out wide and both wing pairings, including a creditable debut at this level for Greg Wilde, made metres for fun.
Match Summary:
Saints:
Tries: Mark Percival 3, Dan Brotherton 4, Nathan Ashe 2, Aaron Lloyd, Carl Forster, Marcus Baines, Jordan Hand.
Goals: Tommy Johnson 8.
Huddersfield:
Tries: Freddy Walker 2.
Half Time: 26-4
Full Time: 68-8
Teams:
Saints:
1. Tommy Johnson; 2. Greg Wilde, 3. Josh Jones, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Dan Brotherton; 6. Nathan Ashe, 7. Ben Karalius (pictured); 8. Anthony Walker, 9. Aaron Lloyd, 10. Carl Forster, 11. Alex Trumper, 12. Joe Greenwood, 13. Danny Jones.
Subs: 14. Marcus Baines, 15. Ste Lucas, 16. Jordan Hand, 17. Josh Greaves.
Huddersfield:
1. Elliot Hodgson; 5. Corey Challenger, 4. Jamie Simpson, 3. Matt Dawson, 2. Freddy Walker; 6. Ben Whitehead, 7. Gregg McNally; 8. Adam Walker, 9. Jamie Cording, 10. Ian Davies, 11. Joe Fox, 12. Perry Whiteley, 13. Ross Peltier.
Subs: 14. Owain Griffiths, 15. Aaron Webb, 16. Dave Orwell, 17. Josh Johnson.
