Wakefield Trinity 13 Huddersfield Giants 10: Giants left stunned as Moore kicks off at Trinity

Moore kicked nine of Wakefield’s points to deny the Giants a result they needed to move clear of joint-leaders Warrington Wolves after their shock loss to Salford earlier in the day.

It was only Moore’s second appearance in a Trinity shirt after his move from Championship side Batley Bulldogs. Wakefield have struggled for a player to fill Brough’s boots since the talented play-maker left for Huddersfield, but Moore had the majority of the 5,436 dancing in the rain come the final whistle after three penalties, drop-goal and his conversion of Luke George’s early try.

It was enough to condemn a depleted Giants side who were missing Brough after he was ruled out with ankle ligament damage that will see him sidelined until August. Two late tries from Shaun Lunt and Jamie Cording meant they outscored the hosts two tries to one, but they paid the price for a terrible first-half display.

Both sides included one player who featured in England’s match with Exiles just 48 hours previously, on Friday night at Headingley Carnegie.

Home captain Glenn Morrison started for Wakefield, while Luke Robinson was drafted in as a substitute for Nathan Brown’s Giants.

Wakefield had three players making their home debuts, former Hull FC full-back Motu Tony, stand-off Moore and prop Jarrad Hickey, who was named a substitute. Australian Hickey – who only arrived in the UK two weeks ago – and Moore, a Scottish international, both played at Salford in the previous match, but Samoan international Tony was making his first appearance in a Trinity shirt.

The Giants named 21-year-old Kyle Wood at scrum-half, replacing Brough, Lunt returned at hooker but David Fa’alogo and David Faiumu were missing after playing for the Exiles.

High-flying Giants though were rocked after just five minutes when winger George scampered over in the left corner for a try, converted by Moore, who quickly added a penalty to go 8-0 in front.

It was the perfect start for the hosts, second-bottom in Super League, against a youthful Giants although there was an injury scare midway through the first half.

Jamie Cording crashed into Wakefield’s Kyle Amor, who was left grounded and a stretcher was called for. Fortunately, the home prop managed to get to his feet and wobbled off the pitch before being substituted.

Hickey was introduced and the gigantic prop looked every inch of his 6ft 5ins frame, bulldozing his way through the Giants defence.

Moore stretched Wakefield’s advantage with a 24th-minute penalty, Giants coach responding by introducing his England international Robinson to try and add some much-needed direction and influence on the match.

Nothing was working for Giants, like a crafty chip from Wood which was easily plucked out of the air by James Davey to gift possession to the Wildcats. Huddersfield prop Eorl Crabtree then coughed up the ball in the tackle, although maybe that was due to the greasy conditions at a rain-soaked Belle Vue, as then Davey spilled the ball when under no pressure.

Kevin Brown, one of Huddersfield’s key playmakers, was struggling to find his range with the boot, typified when his floated kick drifted out of play with winger Jermaine McGillvary looking to hunt it down in the corner.

Home winger Dale Morton then pounced on Brown’s loose pass, and the stand-off’s namesake, Nathan, the Giants coach, would not have been happy with the first-half showing from his Huddersfield team who had yet to register a point in the match.

And the second-half started little better for Huddersfield, Larne Patrick conceding a penalty in his own half, raising his arm as he ran into a tackle, and Moore converted to make it 12-0.

Even when the Giants won a penalty in the opposition half, Leroy Cudjoe booted too long as he aimed for touch and the chance was gone.

It was a scrappy game for the 5,436 fans in Belle Vue and Wakefield had played the conditions perfectly, but the visitors finally managed to register their first points with 25 minutes remaining. Lunt spotted a gap and dived over as Huddersfield finally managed to exert some pressure on the Trinity defence. Cudjoe’s conversion halved the deficit to 12-6 – and with news filtering through that Warrington had surprisingly lost to Salford – the visitors knew a point would take them top in Super League.

Moore’s 63rd-minute drop goal ensured the Giants would need at least two more scores, to lose their tag of joint leaders with Wolves.

David Hodgson broke clear down the wing, but was called back for a forward pass, but the Giants clawed back four points with a piece of rare skill.

Brown’s kick picked out McGillvary, who stabbed the ball forward and Joe Wardle pounced for a try which owed more to football than rugby.

Cudjoe missed the conversion to leave the contest finely balanced at 13-10 with five minutes remaining, but Wakefield showed impressive fighting spirit to cling on for a much-needed two points.

Wakefield Trintiy Wildcats: Tony, Morton, George, Murphy, Griffin, Moore, Smith Korkidas, Davey, Amor, Mariano, Johnson, Morrison. Substitutes: Hickey, Wildie, Higgins, Henderson.

Huddersfield Giants: Cudjoe, McGillvary, Wardle, Lawrence, Hodgson, Brown, Wood, Crabtree, Lunt, Raleigh, Gilmour, Kirmond, Cording. Substitutes: Robinson, Mason, Horne, Patrick.

Referee: T Alibert (France).

Tactics were key to Wakefield’s gritty win, admits Kear

Wakefield coach John Kear was “absolutely delighted” with the way his side stuck to their task in rainy conditions following their shock win over high-flying Huddersfield at the Rapid Solicitors Stadium.

The Wildcats belied their Engage Super League position of second bottom with a determined performance against a woeful Giants outfit, who made several handling and tackling errors.

Kear said: “I’m absolutely delighted. How we played out there, how we work, that’s us as a group and we’ve done it tough the last couple of weeks because it was tough to handle the Castleford defeat (in the Challenge Cup). They’ve really bounced back today.

“Perhaps Huddersfield will feel they weren’t at their best but we certainly challenged them in every area; physically, defensively, ball in hand and with the kicking game and we played the conditions pretty well.

“Perhaps it isn’t pretty and perhaps the conditions dictate it but they carried out the tactics to perfection and I’ve got to credit both half-backs and both hookers as well for doing that.”

The Wildcats were indebted to Gareth Moore, who moved to Belle Vue following a season with Championship club Batley. Although Kear was impressed with the young stand-off, he refused to get carried away. He continued: “I think he’s shown Super League potential, we won’t call him a Super League player until he’s strung 20 or so games together and he’s put a season in.”

Kear admitted that the absence of former Wildcat Danny Brough with an ankle injury was a blow for Huddersfield but the veteran coach added that he was without key players too.

He added: “Obviously Danny Brough’s a big miss. We can’t kid ourselves he isn’t but we can only play our fit players and Tommy Lee pulled out at the last minute with a hamstring injury so Matty Wildie found himself called up and did really well.”

Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown also refused to blame the loss of several key players for their first defeat in four matches. He said: “We put a side out there today, that on talent, was better than the opposition but the opposition wanted to win more than we did and they just played much, much smarter than we did.

“We didn’t deserve to win. If we’d scored late, it would have been an injustice to ‘Keary’ and Wakefield.

“The bonus of today is it’s not going to be too hard to pick next week’s team. Normally you have sleepless nights over who you’re going to pick when everyone’s fit but I won’t have that problem this week.”