Huddersfield stun St Helens with shock 28-26 victory
Sean Long tries to get to grips with the Giant's Andy Raleigh
Monday, 24, Mar 2008 06:59
St Helens suffered one of the biggest upsets of the season so far as they were defeated 28-26 by Huddersfield Giants at the Galpharm Stadium.
Coming off the back of the thumping 46-10 victory over rivals Wigan on Good Friday, St Helens could have been forgiven for entering the game against a team at the opposite end of the engage Super League table with considerable optimism.
And it wasn't long before Saints had opened up a 14-point lead after tries from Paul Wellens and Chris Flannery and goals from Shaun Long.
However Giants' prop Darrell Griffin, on his return from suspension, had other ideas and responded with a try of his own on 24 minutes.
A Jamahl Lolesi try followed for Huddersfield, before Leon Pryce crossed to retain St Helens' lead.
Paul Whatuira scored a try on the stroke of half time to leave the Giants trailing by only four points at the break, with Saints up 20-16.
Just after the restart Huddersfield went in front for the first time in the game with Griffin crossing for his second try after a series of handling errors by St Helens.
Roby answered for Saints, putting them once more in front in a see-saw match at the Galpharm Stadium.
However, with 15 minutes remaining a Rod Jensen try and Chris Thorman conversion handed the Giants the lead and eventually the match as a tired looking St Helens failed to find any response, eventually going down 28-26.