Huddersfield Giants 22 Warrington Wolves 32: Brown left waiting on RFL after Giants fade away

While this absorbing Super League fixture certainly, at times, brought the best out of two teams who are expected to be challenging towards the end of the season, it also delivered some equally nasty moments.

Referee Phil Bentham put three players on report and those incidents will be studied today.

Huddersfield replacement hooker Tommy Lee will be particularly worried after an ugly swinging arm on Lee Briers which left the Warrington maestro clutching his jaw as the sides departed at half-time.

Even some home fans in the 8,184 crowd on Saturday evening thought that crude effort may have warranted a red card and not just the penalty he escaped with.

However, there was plenty more unpleasantness, with a series of reckless high tackles which either went unnoticed or unpunished in an otherwise intriguing contest.

Huddersfield captain Kevin Brown will await the panel’s decision this afternoon after he was placed on report for allegedly leading with a forearm into the face of Chris Bridge, the volatile Warrington centre who moments earlier was put in Benthham’s book for dangerously lifting Jacob Fairbank in yet another flashpoint.

Brown, however, will be the most disappointed of the two regardless of whether he is called to answer a charge at tomorrow’s disciplinary meeting or not; after being gifted that 45th minute penalty, his side, narrowly leading 16-14, had a brilliant chance to strike and help pull away from a gutsy Warrington but his ill-discipline while in possession immediately let them off the hook.

It proved so costly; Warrington – depleted up front with Ben Harrison and Simon Grix injured in the opening quarter – quickly struck twice in three minutes through Joel Monaghan and Matty Blythe to take control of the contest.

There was more misery for Brown, too. Greg Eden slid over on the hour mark to get Huddersfield back within touching distance trailing just 26-22 but his captain wasted another glorious opportunity, his usual accuracy deserting him as a wide pass to Luke George, with the visitors exposed, sailed straight into touch.

Later in the season, such moments can be the difference between gutted nearly men and elated champions.

Huddersfield, who lost to Wolves 47-0 in last year’s play-offs, have played the former role too long and know they must remedy such ills if they are to give coach Nathan Brown, departing at the end of the season, the send-off he deserves.

Scrum-half Danny Brough, who contributed 10 points via a try and three conversions while tormenting Warrington with his varied kicking, told the Yorkshire Post: “We just have to concentrate on our control – execution and one-on-one misses in defence.

“We came up with a few plays we didn’t quite execute and it cost us.

“It was a great game, real end-to-end. We scored some tries and they did too but we let them score back-to-back through clocking off and you can’t do that in Super League.

“We’re at London on Sunday and need to bar up against them like it’s Wigan or Warrington or they’ll hurt us too.

“We started off shockingly against Warrington as they scored in the first set. It shows if you’re not at the races here you’re going to get burned.”

Luke Robinson’s high shot on Richard Myler in the first tackle – perhaps a sign of things to come – meant the Super League favourites scored within 59 seconds as Chris Riley went in.

But Robinson atoned when the darting hooker’s run saw Brough scamper over and then Eorl Crabtree, Huddersfield’s outstanding performer playing his 300th game for the club, fittingly crossed for his first try since last July.

The England front-row, who shed a stone in the close season, produced a massive stint of work, driving his side forward consistently and regularly punching holes in Warrington’s defence.

However, after Riley got his second, Jason Chan’s error, compounded by two penalties, saw Bridge break the hosts once more, Briers tagging on the first of his four conversions to put them 14-12 up at the break.

Chan plundered over off Lee’s pass in the 44th minute to restore Huddersfield’s lead but, straight from the restart, Bridge got involved in a skirmish with Brough to precipitate that threatening period of malevolence.

It was Tony Smith’s side, however, who came through it with more poise, that quickfire double added to when the artful Myler completing the win with a fortuitous 72nd minute try as they replaced their opponents at the top.

“We came up against a team who thought they could beat us and could have if we hadn’t dug in,” said Smith, revealing Harrison could be out for the season with a ruptured cruciate and Grix (medial) six weeks.

“There was a lot of bravery shown and we came up against one of the best kicking games in the competition.”

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Huddersfield: Eden; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, George; Scott Grix, Brough; Crabtree, Robinson, Ferguson, Chan, Gilmour, Brown. Substitutes: Lee, Fairbank, Faiumu, Walker.

Warrington: Ratchford; Riley, Bridge, Atkins, J Monaghan; Briers, Myler; Morley, M Monaghan, Wood, Waterhouse, Westwood, Simon Grix. Substitutes: Harrison, Cooper, Blythe, Hill.

Referee: P Bentham (Warrington)