Anderson reunited with Purtill as Giants expand

Huddersfield have assembled an all-British coaching team for when Australian Nathan Brown leaves at the end of the season.

The former Great Britain prop Paul Anderson, who is succeeding the St Helens-bound Brown in November, will be assisted by the England Knights head coach, Kieron Purtill, and former Giants captain Chris Thorman.

Thorman, who captained Huddersfield in the 2006 Challenge Cup final at Twickenham, revealed last week that he would be quitting his role as player-coach of the Championship club York to return to the Giants.

And yesterday Anderson confirmed that Purtill, who lost his job as assistant coach at St Helens when Royce Simmons was sacked in March, would be his right-hand man.

The 35-year-old Purtill, who is in his second season in charge of the Knights, worked alongside Anderson at the Galpharm Stadium in 2008 when they were in temporary charge following the sacking of Jon Sharp and before the arrival of Brown.

Anderson said: "We are delighted that Kieron is able to come on board with us and he will be the first of a number of new faces and retentions that we will soon be announcing in respect of next year.

"I have worked with him before, of course, both at club and representative level ,and he is familiar with the environment and people here and will be a popular addition to the club."

Purtill, a former player with Leigh, said: "The opportunity to return to Huddersfield and work again with Paul Anderson really appeals to me and I return more experienced but equally as enthused as before as to the potential of the team and the club.

"Since leaving the Saints earlier in the year I have been able to spend more time on the England Knights and my own personal development , which has included time down in Australia with some NRL clubs."

Meanwhile, Castleford's full-back Richard Owen has been charged with punching the Leeds centre Carl Ablett during his side's 40-22 Stobart Super League defeat at Headingley on Sunday.

Owen was sent to the sin bin for the incident by referee Tim Roby and was yesterday charged by the Rugby Football League's match-review panel with committing a grade B offence.

He has until 11am today to submit an early guilty plea and accept a one-match ban or face an RFL disciplinary committee hearing.