Huddersfield 18-32 Wakefield: Trinity win again under Willie Poching
Reece Lyne of Wakefield celebrates his try
Wakefield continued their late-season revival under caretaker coach Willie Poching by denting the best Magic Weekend record with a 32-18 victory over Huddersfield at St James’ Park.
Huddersfield had won nine and drawn one of their previous 13 Magic Weekend fixtures but they were outplayed in all departments by Poching’s rejuvenated Trinity, who were indebted to a big performance from returning loose forward Joe Westerman on his 300th Super League appearance.
After the high drama of day one at St James’ Park, it was a rather more sedate affair, although Huddersfield made an explosive start with a long-range try from exciting stand-off Will Pryce.
Full-back Olly Ashall-Bott, once more deputising splendidly for the injured Ashton Golding, demonstrated his danger in open space when he caught Jacob Miller’s high kick on the full on his own 20-metre line, scything through the fragmented Trinity defence before unleashing Pryce on a 50-metre sprint for his fifth try in nine games.
Pryce, the 18-year-old son of former Great Britain international Leon, added the conversion to make it 6-0 but that was as good as it got for Huddersfield.
Left winger Tom Johnstone produced an acrobatic finish to claim Wakefield’s first try and full-back Ryan Hampshire pounced for a second after the Giants failed to deal with another of Miller’s tormenting kicks.
Scrum-half Mason Lino kicked both conversions and extended his side’s lead to 14-6 with a penalty a minute before half-time.
Wakefield suffered a blow when Johnstone went off for a head injury assessment but they had a handy replacement in Liam Kay, who had begun the match at hooker, and Lino’s masterful kicking kept Huddersfield pinned inside their own half for much of the game.
The Giants crucially found themselves down to 12 men for 10 minutes when second rower Sam Hewitt was sin-binned for leading with the elbow and Trinity took full advantage, with second rower Kelepi Tanginoa charging onto Lino’s pass to score their third try.
Lino’s fourth goal opened up a 14-point gap but Huddersfield rallied in the final quarter.
Wakefield’s replacement hooker Kyle Wood got his body underneath second rower Josh Jones to deny him a try but there was no stopping winger Sam Wood after he gathered Pryce’s high kick to the corner.
Pryce landed the touchline conversion to make it 20-12 but Trinity made sure of the win when centre Reece Lyne cut through wide out for their fourth try after 67 minutes.
Jones forced his way over for the Giants’ third try seven minutes from the end but Wakefield had the final say when prop Chris Green went under the posts for a try on his 150th Super League appearance and Lino completed his 100 per cent success rate with the boot by landing his sixth goal.
