Huddersfield Giants 40 - Wakefield
Trinity Wildcats 22

In an engage Super League season littered with twists and turns, one of the most intriguing chapters of the story so far has been the inconsistency of last season?s surprise package Wakefield as they went down 40-22 against Huddersfield.

Their hot and cold performance in losing to the Giants on Sunday afternoon did little to suggest their decline will be arrested in the near future.

Having been on the cusp of reaching the Grand Final in 2004, Shane McNally?s men are now anxiously peering over their shoulders towards the relegation trap door, with their early season wins at Bradford and Leeds now a distant memory.

Having trailed 28-0 after 35 minutes, the Wildcats rallied and came back within eight points of their hosts at 30-22 before eventually finding their early profligacy in defence too difficult a task to surmount.

Huddersfield scrum-half Paul March returned from injury in time to celebrate his 100th appearance for the club, whilst skipper Ben Roarty was forced to sit out with a neck injury.

Despite their 70 point mauling against Leeds last week, McNally opted to make just one change, with Olivier Elima replacing Jamie Field.

The opening exchanges were scrappy until Eorl Crabtree scored a try based solely on power.

His 13th minute effort and Chris Thorman?s ensuing goal handed the hosts an eight point lead, after Thorman had posted an early penalty.

Another penalty extended the lead to 10 before a flurry of three tries in eight minutes seemingly ended the game as a contest. First Paul Reilly waltzed through a static Wildcats defence to collect March?s kick and ground before Thorman skipped through with similar ease to score.

Thorman converted both and did so again from the touchline after Chris Nero shrugged off two tacklers to power over.

The visitors did little to prevent their hosts running amok, until they produced a devastating spell, interrupted only by the interval, that encapsulated everything that can be good about Wakefield.

Michael Korkidas ran hard and strong down the middle, Sid Domic and David Solomona showed why they had become a feared left-side combination and Jamie Rooney began to pull the strings in centre field. Their revival was started by Ben Jeffries, who skipped round the cover defence to score and just two minutes later Duncan MacGillivray was in the right place at the right time to ground Rooney?s grubber kick.

The break did little to temper the Wildcats? enthusiasm and they re-started with arguably the try of the game. Sam Obst, brought on by McNally to inject life into his side did more than that when he somehow collected Colum Halpenny?s hack ahead and managed to ground, even though he had to perform a back-flip to stay in the field of play.

Although Thorman cooled the mood with a penalty, Wakefield kept coming and Jeffries soon went in for his second touchdown. He masterminded the break that sent Obst racing clear and reminiscent of his golden year last season, was on hand to collect Obst?s pass and streak clear to score. Rooney converted three of the four scores to leave his side just eight points adrift at 30-22.

Huddersfield could have checked Wakefield?s enthusiasm on the hour mark had Nero and Thorman, so ruthless in the first period, not combined to spurn a certain try-scoring opportunity. With Wakefield becoming desperate to find another score, tempers became frayed as both MacGillivray and Korkidas were spoken to by referee Richard Silverwood about their conduct.

The Giants were ultimately grateful to hooker Brad Drew, who somehow managed to inject some order into his side with a strong display in both attack and defence, and on the back of this Huddersfield were able to kill the game off.

Paul White collected March?s pass and sprinted 60 metres to secure the win under the posts, then Nero swooped in the last minute to add his second try of the afternoon and although Thorman failed to convert from the touchline, he ended the afternoon with a personal haul of 20 points.

Huddersfield: Reilly, St Hilaire, Evans, Nero, Donlan, Thorman, March, Crabtree, Drew, Gannon, Grayshon, Smith, Jones. Replacements: White, Jackson, Clayton, McDonald.

Wakefield: M. Field, Halpenny, Demetriou, Domic, Tadulala, Rooney, Jeffries, Griffin, March, Feather, Solomona, MacGillivray, Spicer. Replacements: Korkidas, Obst, Snitch, Elima.

Huddersfield: (28) 40. Tries: Crabtree, Reilly, Thorman, Nero 2, White. Goals: Thorman 8.

Wakefield: (10) 22. Tries: Jeffries 2, MacGillivray, Obst . Goals: Rooney 3.

Referee: Richard Silverwood (Dewsbury) Att: 4,544

Thanks to: http://www.superleague.co.uk for another excellent article.