Wigan Warriors 46 Huddersfield Giants 0 WIGAN made sure there would be no giantkilling act as they quickly returned to winning ways last night.
The Warriors, still smarting from the defeat by Leeds, were hot favourites to overpower the Super League newcomers, who are yet to record their first win.
The contrast to last week's breathtaking clash at Headingley was stark, as Wigan hardly had to break sweat to brush away a disappointing Huddersfield side.
It was far from an exciting spectacle and only in a sustained spell of pressure just before the break, when the Warriors withstood 26 consecutive tackles, was their defence threatened. Wigan did their best to entertain with some dazzling tries, but they gave the impression they would have relished a much more challenging contest.
The Riversiders also picked up a couple of injuries with Tony Smith and Andy Farrell substituted with leg problems, but they are not thought to be serious.
The fact that Wigan didn't concede a point left coach John Monie a happy man.
"We started off a bit rusty but I was happy that we defended really well. The biggest thing for the players was they got Huddersfield with a nil," he said.
"But we have the players to break down most defences, that is the quality of the player we have got here. We put more pressure on our attacking players and they came up with the goods."
It took just 14 minutes to break down the Yorkshiremen when Mark Bell slipped the ball out for Kris Radlinski to crash over the line. Seven minutes later and Henry Paul completely deceived the defence with a fine individual try. Jason Robinson broke and sent Smith racing over before Rob McCormack sent powerful pro Neil Cowie in for a simple try. With Farrell adding three goals Wigan were home and dry.
The Giants tried to make a game of it but solid defence kept them at bay and four minutes after the break Wigan extended their lead when Farrell dummied his way over and added the goal.
Denis Betts burst through before putting Robinson racing over, then in the final minutes Mick Cassidy made the gap for Darryl Cardiss to race 60 yards, before Lee Gilmour repeated the move. Paul added a goal and Gary Connolly two more.
WIGAN: Radlinski, Bell, Connolly, Moore, Robinson, Paul, Smith, Cowie, McCormack, Mestrov, Cassidy, Betts, Farrell. Subs: Haughton (for Cassidy 22), Holgate (for Mestrov 32), Cardiss (for Smith 32), Gilmour (for Moore 46), Cassidy (for Farrell 51), Mestrov (for Cowie 67). Att: 8,966.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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