Ian Watson jubilant after Huddersfield Giants win in Perpignan: ‘It wasn’t a shock to me or the players’

Huddersfield Giants coach Ian Watson insisted that he ‘wasn’t shocked’ that his side beat league leaders Catalans Dragons in the south of France.

The Giants, who were third from bottom heading into the game on Saturday night, picked up an impressive 22-14 win over the in-form Dragons in Perpignan.

Huddersfield’s emphatic win on Saturday breathes a sigh of relief ahead of next week’s clash with Wakefield, who beat Wigan in golden point on Friday night.

Speaking after their win over Catalans, Watson said: “It wasn’t a shock to me or the players either.

“We’ve done it tough this season but that’s what makes days like these so special.

“What is important now is that we take this type of performance into our next game, and the one after that.”

Ian Watson: Catalans win will give us confidence

Huddersfield are six points clear of bottom-placed Wakefield ahead of Friday’s home game. The Giants are also four points ahead of 11th placed Castleford.

Watson believes his side will gain some much needed confidence from the win in the south of France, and wants to use the result as a springboard to the back end of the season.

He added: “I’ve been saying all of the time that we have a good group of players it’s just that we’ve had a hell of a lot of adversity.

“The boys never lost faith, it’s just not been going their way.

“Other than the Leeds game which went terribly, and I don’t want to focus on that now, the biggest thing for us has been our team performances and that today was absolutely outstanding from one to 17.

“We were more than well up for this game and put that kind of performance on, and try to right a few wrongs.

“The boys will take a lot of enjoyment out of tonight, and take that winning feeling forward, it will give them confidence.

“The things we have been doing have been the right things but we just weren’t consistent enough but today from one to 17 everybody was pretty consistent in doing their job.”

Next up for the Giants is a crunch clash with Wakefield at the John Smith’s Stadium next Friday night, 7:45pm kick-off.

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