SAINTS and Huddersfield shared the spoils in a dramatic draw at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
A controversial late Sam Wood try handed the Giants a point to leave Keiron Cunningham’s men ruing what could have been.
Saints led 14-0 after a first half performance that mirrored the last one at home to Warrington.
Matty Smith repeatedly turned the Giants around before, 25 minutes in, his half back partner bagged the first of a brace.
Initially, Mark Percival broke down the left hand side and found Jonny Lomax on his shoulder.
The full back was hauled down close to the line but on the next tackle, Zeb Taia popped it on a plate for Fages to dance over.
Percival pin-point with the extras.
Seven minutes later Saints extended their lead and it was thanks to that left edge combination once again.
Zeb offloaded to Fages who was then left one on one with Darnell McIntosh.
He shimmied in and then out to bamboozle the defence cross for his second.
Superb stuff.
Saints were in cruise mode on their next set they scored again.
A superb kick chase saw Aaron Murphy bundled into touch – and right from the scrum, it came left for Percival to put Swift on for his fifth of the season.
14-0 at half time.
The second half was a scrappy affair with Saints probing for another score whilst defending their lines when required.
Morgan Knowles went close on 57 minutes and then some excellent defence stopped a promising Giants’ break.
But on 61 minutes, Huddersfield built pressure on Saints’ line and McIntosh crossed.
Makinson stopped a certain try on 67 minutes but Saints then failed to deal with Brough’s kick to the posts and McIntosh crossed for his second.
The Giants had the momentum and with three minutes to go, Sam Wood collected Brough’s cross field kick and scored in the corner.
It was a controversial one as it looked to everyone in the stadium that he’d knocked on over the line.
Brough missed the conversion to leave it all square and then the Giants lost the ball on the next set to give Saints a great chance of stealing it.
They were just 20 metres out but they never really fashioned the chance to ping over a one-pointer.
Match Summary:
Saints:
Tries: Fages (2), Swift
Goals: Percival (1 from 3)
Giants:
Tries: McIntosh (2), Wood
Goals: Brough (1 for 3)
Penalties Awarded:
Saints: 4
Giants: 3
HT: 14-0
FT: 14-14
REF: C Campbell
ATT: 9,080
Teams:
Saints:
1. Jonny Lomax; 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Ryan Morgan, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Adam Swift; 6. Theo Fages, 7. Matty Smith; 8. Alex Walmsley, 17. Tommy Lee, 14. Luke Douglas, 36. Zeb Taia, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 12. Jon Wilkin.
Subs: 10. Kyle Amor, 15. Adam Walker, 18. Dominique Peyroux, 20. Morgan Knowles.
Giants:
24. Darnell McIntosh; 2. Jermaine McGillvary, 23. Sam Wood, 30. Alex Mellor, 5. Aaron Murphy; 6. Danny Brough, 4. Lee Gaskell; 15. Sebastine Ikahihifo, 9. Ryan Hinchcliffe, 10. Shannon Wakeman, 16. Oliver Roberts, 12. Dale Ferguson, 18. Paul Clough.
Subs: 8. Sam Rapira, 14. Kruise Leeming, 19. Nathan Mason, 22. Tyler Dickinson.
