Brough brings down Saints

Huddersfield 25 St Helens 16

Danny Brough led the Giants to their first league double over Saints since 1951. The Huddersfield stand-off was at the heart of everything as they held off a St Helens side well short of play-off form. With Steve McNamara due to name his England squad to face the Exiles today, it was a good time for an eye-catching performance.

Brough first impressed with a high kick, which drew a rare mistake from Paul Wellens, and a precision pass to put Aaron Murphy in at the corner. Brough missed the conversion, but another kick caused Saints chaos, coming off a series of hands before Joe Wardle touched down.

The Giants' high-speed, no-frills football was paying off, with Eorl Crabtree stopped at the expense of a penalty, kicked by Brough. Not even the arrival off the bench, after almost three months out injured, of James Roby, could lift Saints. No sooner had he come on than Brough's dummy and burst split their defence for Dale Ferguson to claim the third Giants try. Just after the half-hour, Saints at last got on to the scoreboard, with Jon Wilkin's first try of the season.

A Murphy try was disallowed for Anthony Mullally's high tackle on Ade Gardner, for which he was put on report. It did not look the most deliberate of fouls, but it saw Gardner stretchered off in a neck-brace, although not seriously injured.

Brough put over a drop-goal early in the second half to take Huddersfield three scores clear. Saints had their best spell but Brough's dummying cross-field run sent Wardle through for his second. Josh Jones got a try back for Saints with 13 minutes to play, closely followed by Jordan Turner. Brough said: "We're defending well, but we've made ourselves do more than we should have to."

Huddersfield: Grix; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, Murphy; Brough, Robinson; Crabtree, Lunt, Kopczak, Ferres, Ta'ai, Ferguson. Substitutes used: Lawrence, Patrick, Mullally, Dwyer. St Helens: Wellens; Gardner, Percival, Jones, Meli; Turner, O'Brien; McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Hohaia, Puletua, Soliola, Manu, Wilkin. Substitutes used: Roby, Clough, Walmsley, Thompson. Referee: R Silverwood (RFL)