Round 6:
Giants claim comprehensive win

Rampant Huddersfield ran in 11 tries as beleaguered Harlequins suffered a 64-14 drubbing at the Galpharm Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

With scrum-half Robbie Paul in effervescent mood and Chris Thorman - who contributed 28 points - also in fine form, the Giants were too hot to handle for a thoroughly outclassed Quins side.

James Evans, Thorman himself and Matt Gardner each scored two tries while Stephen Wild, Paul, Stuart Donlan, Eorl Crabtree and Albert Torrens added further scores.

Quins, whose points came following early tries by Tim Hartley and Zebastian Luisi as well as three kicks by Matt Gafa, were poor in the second half especially.

Their performance made a mockery of their opening two away games this season, which had seen them beat Hull and draw at Bradford.

Earlier indiscipline from Harlequins gifted Thorman an easy fourth-minute penalty for Huddersfield but the visitors hit back almost immediately with the first try. Aggressive tackling forced the turnover and Thomas Leuluai placed a perfectly weighted grubber kick behind a static defence for Hartley to pounce and ground.

The Giants retook the lead in the ninth minute when Wild darted over in the corner after running onto a crash ball from the peerless Paul.

But in a topsy-turvy start to the contest, full-back Luisi skirted the challenge of opposite number Paul Reilly to scurry over two minutes later for his side's second try. Gafa, who had converted the first, did likewise with the second.

Both defences had been found wanting in the tackle up to this point but the rest of the match belonged to Huddersfield.

They levelled the scores when Evans was afforded space on the right touchline to sprint clear, execute a neat side step and dive over.

And superb work by hooker Brad Drew, who swivelled neatly out of a tackle, enabled Thorman to arrow a darting line into the left corner.

Thorman and Gafa traded penalties before Paul displayed excellent technique to offload in the tackle having drifted wide and Evans took the inside pass to ground on the stroke of half-time.

Paul picked up where he left off after the interval and extended the Giants' lead three minutes in when he squeezed between two challengers and outpaced last man Luisi to score.

Thorman, who had missed his last three conversions, made no mistake from underneath the sticks.

With the Giants growing in confidence and the Quins imploding, Gardner breezed over untouched on the left wing in the 50th minute to bag the hosts' sixth try.

The Giants piled on the agony in the final quarter with Donlan - starting his first game of the season - going over in the 63rd minute and Gardner adding an eighth touchdown three minutes later with a length-of-the-field effort.

Crabtree then charged over from 15 metres before Thorman and Torrens scored in the final five minutes to add further insult to injury for the Quins.

Huddersfield: Reilly, Donlan, Evans, Torrens, Gardner, Thorman, Paul, Crabtree, Drew, Jackson, Nero, Jones, Wild. Replacements: Snitch, March, McDonald, Raleigh.

Harlequins RL: Lucky Luisi, Gafa, Hartley, Smith, Bradley-Qalilawa, Dorn, Leuluai, Tookey, Randall, Lolohea,Temata, Hopkins, Williams. Replacements: Budworth, Mills, Heckenberg, Clubb.

Huddersfield: (22) 64. Tries: Wild, Evans 2, Thorman 2, Paul, Gardner 2, Donlan, Crabtree, Torrens. Goals: Thorman 10.

Harlequins RL: (14) 14. Tries: Hartley, Lucky Luisi. Goals: Gafa 3.

Referee: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington)

Att: 4,173