Sin-binning crucial in Huddersfield Giants loss to buoyant Warrington Wolves

HUDDERSFIELD Giants boss Simon Woolford bemoaned a costly yellow-card for Adam Walne but admitted his winless side are “still not quite good enough yet” after a 32-20 loss to Super League leaders Warrington Wolves.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Feb 2019, 06:37 GMT
Updated 23rd Feb 2019, 09:12 GMT
Huddersfield Giants' Adam Walne is tackled during the Betfred Super League match at the John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield (Picture: PA)Huddersfield Giants' Adam Walne is tackled during the Betfred Super League match at the John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield (Picture: PA)
Huddersfield Giants' Adam Walne is tackled during the Betfred Super League match at the John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield (Picture: PA)

They had fought back from 16-0 down to trail just 16-10 when the replacement forward was sin-binned for allegedly leading with a forearm into England prop Chris Hill.
Warrington took control while Walne was off and secured a third win from three outings while it proved three successive losses for the West Yorkshire club.
Woolford, whose side scored tries through Jermaine McGillvary, Matty English, Jordan Turner and Akuila Uate with Lee Gaskell kicking two goals, said: “Whether the sin-binning of Walney was right or wrong, it proved crucial.
“At that time, we’d got back to 16-10 and Warrington were creaking.
“We felt we could have gone on and won that game at that stage, but the momentum changed when we went down to 12 men.
“Having said that, it’s still pretty clear we’re not quite good enough to be challenging right now, and it’s obviously something that needs addressing.
“The good thing is that we’ve got players coming back - having Jermaine McGillvary and Lee Gaskell out there for the first time this season - and hopefully that will be reflected in even better performances to come.
“But you can only keep saying for so long how encouraged you’ve been by parts of the team’s performance when we’ve lost. It’s winning that counts, and we need to start doing that soon.”
Warrington boss Steve Price was impressed as Josh Charnley and Ryan Atkins both scored braces in a display where Australian stand-off Blake Austin once more showed his class.
“The boys have been telling me this Huddersfield ground has become a bit of a bogey place for us,” said the Wolves boss, whose previous win at the John Smith’s Stadium was back in March 2014.
“So, in that sense, it was a good win, although it was a good win in a lot of other ways too.
“In fact, in that opening 30 minutes or so when we built up that 16-0 lead, I’d say it was the most polished we’ve played this season.
“But it was also disappointing we didn’t build on that. Yes, it was good to score 32 points, but the fact we conceded those two late tries was a clear indication that we’ve still got a lot more levels to go yet.
“Overall, though, we’re pretty pleased, because Huddersfield certainly had a dig.”