Ian Watson hails Huddersfield’s “very physical” pack in Hull KR win
Huddersfield coach Ian Watson praised his pack and put the Giants’ second straight win of the season down to his side playing for one another.
The home side followed up last weekend’s 42-14 victory in Toulouse with a five-try 26-12 win against Hull KR at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Huddersfield dominated the first half to lead 16-0. Watson said: “Our forward pack were very physical in the first half and got on top of the opposition.
“We knew Hull KR would come and try and compete with us. They have very good backs and a good forward pack.
“So we knew we had to be on our game and both our starting pack and those coming off the bench were really on it today.
“Maybe we lost a bit of focus and concentration in the second half. But the amount of effort we put into defending our goal-line in that half was impressive.
“Korbin Sims nearly went over and we had great defence to get underneath him through Theo (Fages). They nearly scored in the corner through Ryan Hall and again Theo and Jez (McGillvary) held him up, then put him in touch. These are defining moments in the game.
“I want us to play for each other and play with the kind of pride shown by the people who run and support this club. That’s exactly what we did today and in front of a great crowd.”
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Chris McQueen (two), Luke Yates, Josh Jones and Jermaine McGillvary all scored tries, with Oliver Russell (two) and Tui Lolohea adding conversions as Huddersfield joined St Helens, Wigan and Warrington as unbeaten at the top of Super League.
The only blot on an otherwise excellent display by the West Yorkshire side was a late sin-binning to close-season acquisition Chris Hill, who tangled with Mikey Lewis after the Hull KR half-back grabbed the visitors’ second try late in the game.
Ian Watson added: “He’s unsure as to why he was sin-binned but he’s obviously done something to upset the referee, so I’ll have to have another look at that to see what it was all about.”
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