Huddersfield ease to third straight Super League win over Catalans
The Giants raced into an 18-point lead inside the opening 15 minutes through Halsall’s double and Fenton Rogers before further tries from Wrench, Sam Hewitt and Zane Dunford put them 36-0 up at half-time.
Sam Halsall and Connor Wrench both went over for doubles as Huddersfield beat Catalans Dragons 42-20 for their third successive Super League win.
The Giants raced into an 18-point lead inside the opening 15 minutes through Halsall’s double and Fenton Rogers before further tries from Wrench, Sam Hewitt and Zane Dunford put them 36-0 up at half-time.
Catalans rallied in the second half despite the dismissal of loose forward Franck Maria for a high tackle, with Ben Condon scoring twice and further efforts from Leo Darrelatour and Charlie Staines, while Wrench also added his second as Giants claimed the spoils.
Halsall raced 80 metres for an early interception try and prop Rogers barged over for Giants’ second before Halsall dived over in the corner to put the home side in control.
Centre Wrench followed up winger Lewis Jagger’s break to go over, Hewitt dotted down Tuimoala Lolohea’s kick and Dunford crashed over for the Giants sixth first-half try, with George Flanagan nailing all six conversions.
Catalans responded early in the second half when second row Condon burst over for Toby Sexton to convert, but another converted long-range interception try by Wrench restored Giants’ 36-point lead.
Maria was sent off in the 62nd minute for a high tackle on George King and although Catalans went over through Condon’s try and efforts from Darrelatour and Staines, they were only consolations.
The Giants remain bottom of the table, but their third straight Super League win marked a club announcement at half-time in which they outlined plans to groundshare with Dewsbury at Flair Stadium next season.
Huddersfield coach Jim Lenihan said: “If someone had offered me 42-20 before kick-off, I’d certainly have taken it. Three weeks ago people were questioning whether we’d win another game this year and now we’ve won three in a row, which is nice.
“But we still have a lot to do. The second half shows that and we probably didn’t come back out in the second half, but we’re really happy with how we’re tracking.”
Catalans coach John Cartwright said: “The game is played over 80 minutes and we have too many of those patches in our game where we give up so many points. It makes it impossible.
“They showed some fight for the second half but it’s just not good enough. I’ve said for the last few weeks that there’s a big gap between the top six and the rest of us. The rest of us are fighting and on your day you’ll win your games. That’s not where we want to be as a club.”