Huddersfield miss out on chance to leapfrog leaders Wigan

The Giants conceded seven points in the last five minutes to go down 27-20 to Catalan Dragons in Perpignan and miss the chance to return to the top of Stobart Super League.

“Apart from a couple of players, I thought we weren’t quite good enough to beat a good side today,” Brown said.

“Apart from Michael Lawrence and Dale Ferguson, I thought every other player in our team didn’t produce a performance they needed to produce. It’s been a long time since we lost so it’s no good slitting our wrists.

“We’re halfway through the year and no one is on more points than us and we’re in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals so I can’t be too hard on the guys. We’d have taken that at the start of the year.”

Huddersfield went in front three times thanks to tries from Luke Robinson, Scott Grix and Dale Ferguson and drew level at 20-20 when centre Joe Wardle went over on 71 minutes.

They also had tries from Luke George and Greg Eden disallowed and Brown bemoaned the absence of a video referee.

“It’s the only sport in the world that’s professional where you have a video referee for one game and don’t have it for the others,” he said. “The full-back definitely scored and I don’t know whether Luke George knocked on or not. It’s not the referee’s fault, it’s the fault of the people who run the game. We didn’t deserve to win the game but we deserved the right to have a video referee.”

The lead changed hands six times before a drop goal from Thomas Bosc edged the Dragons in front five minutes from the end and centre Vincent Duport made sure of a precious victory with his side’s fifth try three minutes later.

The Dragons’ hard-fought victory puts them just two points behind Wigan and Huddersfield with a game in hand, but some of the gloss was taken from it with the loss of influential scrum-half Scott Dureau with a knee injury.

A scrappy match reflected the tricky conditions at Stade Gilbert Brutus as thunder and lightning, accompanied by a heavy downpour, gave way to bright sunshine but left behind a greasy ball that made handling awkward.

The home side took the lead when Dureau’s high kick bounced awkwardly on the visitors’ line and presented a gift try to winger Damien Cardace on 15 minutes.

Robinson and Ferguson crossed for Giants, either side of Catalan full-back Clint Greenshields scoring his sixth try of the season.

Brough succeeded with both conversions to put his side 12-8 ahead but the Catalans regained the lead five minutes before the break when Cardace broke through the first line of defence to get Pryce over for their third try.

Dureau kicked his first goal after missing with his first two attempts before he limped off and they fell behind a minute later when Grix jinked his way over for Huddersfield’s third try. However, Catalan captain Remi Casty forced his way over from close range and Thomas Bosc added converted for 20-16 before Wardle went over from a 72nd-minute try that tied the scores.

A point would have been enough to take the Yorkshire side back to the top but Bosc, who switched from the wing following the loss of Dureau, dashed their hopes before Duport went over for his try.

Catalan Dragons: Greenshields, Cardace, Duport, Millard, Bosc, Pryce, Dureau, Baitieri, Menzies, Sa, Paea, Henderson, Casty. Substitutes: Fakir, Pelissier, Anderson, Simon.

Huddersfield: Eden, George, Cudjoe, Wardle, McGillvary, Grix, Brough, Brown, Chan, O’Donnell, Lawrence, Robinson, Crabtree. Substitutes: Faiumu, Ferguson, Patrick, Mason.

Referee: R Silverwood (RFL).