Giants coach in an unforgiving mood

Huddersfield: Giants coach Nathan Brown refused to take any consolation from his side’s second-half fightback as their hopes of a top-two finish in Super League virtually disappeared following Friday’s 28-16 defeat at table-topping Warrington.

The Giants were in danger of a humiliation when they trailed 22-0 after 24 minutes but they hit back in the second half with three tries in 21 minutes to set up a thrilling finish before Wolves second row Louis Anderson grabbed the winner.

Brown was unforgiving over his side’s first-half display and, a fortnight after losing 46-12 at second-placed Wigan, he admitted they are still lagging some way behind the big two.

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“In the last three weeks, we’ve played the sides running first and second and physically we’ve been embarrassed on both occasions,” he said.

“We got absolutely hammered, that’s the only way you can look at it. We definitely can do a lot better.

“Every now and then you do put in a performance which is not great but to do it twice in three weeks is disappointing.

“Maybe a few years ago, when you’re down and you fight back and still lose the game, it might have been acceptable but I like to think that we’re better than that.

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“We can’t be satisfied with that performance. The reality is they absolutely gave it to us and we’ve come up short. We’ve a lot of work to do.”

Warrington coach Tony Smith said: “Physically I thought we dominated pretty well and defensively I thought we were very good.

“There were a couple of moments we will look back with disappointment when they made us pay.

“You have to stand up to the Giants, otherwise they bully you around and I thought we did.

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“We could and should have scored another three tries in the first half and we were not smart enough in the second half.

“We had opportunities to put the game to bed and we got a bit anxious and tried to force things instead of being patient. The good thing is that we’ll learn plenty from that second half.”