Wolves hold off Giants
A second-half try from winger Chris Hicks proved enough for Warrington to clinch a14-10 victory away at Huddersfield.
Last Updated: 28/02/10 6:55pm
Warrington bounced back from their home defeat to Wigan with a hard-fought 14-10 victory away at Huddersfield.
A Chris Hicks try in the second half, the only scoring after the interval, broke a 10-10 tie in favour of the Wolves at the Galpharm Stadium.
Fellow Australian Matt King had touched down twice in the first half to cancel out efforts from Kevin Brown and Paul Whatuira for the Giants.
Having crossed twice in the first 19 minutes the hosts failed to register a further point in the remainder of a tight contest that occasionally boiled over.
Cup repeat
In a repeat of last year's Challenge Cup final, Warrington broke the deadlock inside three minutes when King grabbed his first of the afternoon.
The centre finished in the right corner after Richie Mathers, Richie Myler, who also added the extras, and Ben Harrison had all been involved in a fine sweeping move to work the ball out wide.
Huddersfield's response to falling behind so early was emphatic - Brown going over from close range after Luke Robinson had been held up just short.
Skipper Brett Hodgson missed his first conversion attempt but was on target with his second after Whatuira, making his return to the side, went over.
Only a last-ditch tackle from Leroy Cudjoe stopped King reaching the line but he was not to be denied for too long, latching on to Mickey Higham's pass to burst clear.
Altercations
With little between the teams the game developed into a tense stalemate that saw tempers become frayed the longer the score remained deadlocked.
A mass brawl erupted due to Brown preventing Warrington starting play quickly straight after the hosts had seen a try for Shaun Lunt disallowed.
Punches were also thrown late on in the second half, this time the spark being a high shot from Giants centre Michael Lawrence that somehow saw him avoid being shown a yellow card.
In the end it took a moment of magic to settle the contest, Hicks somehow evading three tacklers to get the match-winning try after 65 minutes.
