Wolves rampage on after no-show Giants are cut down to size by Riley at the double
Warrington 47 Huddersfield 0
The Super League leaders are just one game from an Old Trafford Grand Final after this ruthless demolition of a side that gave them real problems in the recent past.
Too strong and aggressive in the forwards, too inventive in the halves and too sharp in the outside backs, where their wingers shared four tries between them, Warrington cut the Giants down to size in the first 40 minutes to lead 25-0 and gave them little respite thereafter. It was as one-sided a play-off as the system has yet produced.
Coach Tony Smith had said his team were going to turn history on its head and they duly did. Huddersfield had beaten his Wolves three times in the past year, including knocking them out of last season's play-offs, but the Giants looked lambs to the slaughter last night.
The Wolves led on 10 minutes with a scrappy try, Chris Bridge's long pass skimming the wet turf on its way to Chris Riley. That was the first of four tries in 13 minutes that effectively killed the contest.
Bridge got the second from Brett Hodgson's dinked kick and Joel Monaghan the third from Lee Briers' cut-out pass. Richie Myler's lightning break produced a second for Riley, although like his first it took some scoring.
Huddersfield had simply failed to turn up. Simon Grix got a clever pass away to Matt King and Briers put over a drop-goal on half-time.
The Giants lost Scott Grix to the sin-bin for holding down Myler after the break and conceded a second to Joel Monaghan. It soon became a cruise: Myler's second came from an opportunist kick-and-chase, then Ryan Atkins crossed.
Warrington: Hodgson; J Monaghan, King, Atkins, Riley; Briers, Myler; Morley, M Monaghan, Carvell, Anderson, Simon Grix, Bridge. Substitutes: Clarke, Harrison, Cooper, Solomona.
Huddersfield: Scott Grix; McGillvary, Horne, Lawrence, D Hodgson; Brown, Brough, Mason, Faiumu, Griffin, Gilmour, Fa'alogo, Patrick. Substitutes: Crabtree, Raleigh, Kirmond, Robinson.
Referee: S Ganson (St Helens)
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