 Tonight's sudden death game at the DW Stadium pitted second against third as Wigan Warriors hosted the Huddersfield Giants in the first 2015 play-off semi-final. Wigan came into the game on the back of a big win over the Castleford Tigers, but the story was very different for the Giants who were left reeling by a traumatic last minute defeat at the hands of the Rhinos last weekend. A loss which denied them a home semi-final and instead sent them over the Pennines.
Wigan came into the game unbeaten in Super League at home and just one win away from a third consecutive visit to Old Trafford for the games showpiece event. The Giants were looking to get to Old Trafford for the first time but the pundits and bookies had them as underdogs for a Grand Final debut.
After good early defence from both sides, the first try came far too easily for Wigan on six minutes when Ben Flower went through a big gap in the Giants defence to go twenty metres and dive over under the sticks. Matty Bowen added the extras to calm any Warriors nerves.
A silly penalty conceded by the Giants gave Matty Bowen the perfect invitation to extend the lead with a simple penalty from within the Giants twenty.
The thirty-fourth minute brought the second Wigan try after they'd thwarted some good Giants attack. Matty Smith put in a kick which was collected by Dom Manfredi and passed back to John Bateman who rounded the last defender to score in the corner. Bowen slid the conversion attempt wide leaving the Giants two converted tries behind.
With ten seconds left in the half Wigan were penalised for being offside close to their own line and Danny Brough opted to take the two and narrow the margin to ten points heading into the interval.
It took ten minutes of the second half for Wigan to get their third try and on foot on the bus to Old Trafford. A left to right passing move ended with a flick from Bateman to Dom Manfredi who pushed over with two tacklers in attendance. Bowen was accurate with a difficult conversion and left the Giants with a mountain to climb.
On fifty-four a brilliant break by Manfredi turned defence in to attack. From the play the ball a kick to the corner from Matty Smith was dribbled forward by Bateman who was then blocked as he went through to ground the ball. After consulting the video referees a penalty try was given to Bateman, and Scott Grix was sin-binned for a professional foul. Bowen kicked the goal from under the sticks for 24-2 and it was all over.
On sixty-three Bowen was obstructed following a kick through and kicked an easy two-pointer.
With the clock showing sixty-seven the Giants finally scored a four pointer when Brough put Brett Ferres through a gap to crash over by the sticks. Brough kicked a quick two for 26-8.
Within the last sixty seconds Michael McIlorum fed Tony Clubb a short pass to score under the sticks. As Bowen kicked the extras the full time hooter had already sounded a comprehensive 32-8 win.
The Huddersfield Giants did little wrong in this game, but the Warriors were close to faultless. The Warriors stood tall in defence and denied the Giants the space and the ball to be creative. It was a game with more brawn than brains and it was the Warriors who hit the hardest and for the longest.
The Warriors are Old Trafford bound for the third season running and will have to wait until tomorrow night to find out whether they will play the Saints in a repeat of last year, or the Leeds Rhinos for the first time in a Grand Final since 1998.
Warriors: Bowen (6G), Manfredi (T), Bateman (2T), Gildart, Burgess, Williams, Smith, Crosby, McIlorum, Flower (T), Tomkins, Farrell, O'Loughlin. Subs: Powell, Clubb (T), Mossop, Patrick.
Giants: Grix, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Connor, Murphy, Brough (G), Ellis, Kopczak, Robinson, Huby, Wardle, Hughes, Ferres. Subs: Lawrence, Ta'ai, Crabtree, Bailey.
Referee: Ben Thaler
Attendance: 10,035 |
