January 22, 2019

Wakefield Trinity 28-24 Huddersfield Giants

Trinity came out on top in a highly entertaining pre-season friendly over neighbours Huddersfield Giants.

The game was very different to any other pre season friendly with four team warnings dished out, three of the being handed to the visitors Huddersfield Giants and the other to Trinity along with two Giants players being sent to the sin bin.

Trinity had the best chances to go into the lead early on, after a great opportunity by Tom Johnstone that was pulled back following a forward pass from Brough; it was Craig Kopczak who opened up the score line after 17 minutes. The prop, kept the ball alive on the last tackle and dived under the posts to put Trinity into an early lead.

The Giants were then penalised, Jordan Turner was sent to the sin bin for holding down before the visitors were put on three team warnings in the space of 19 minutes.

Trinity were the next to be put on a team warning from referee James Child, this decision came after Trinity gave away a penalty which led to the Giants crawling back into the game when Jermaine McGillvary got over on the right edge to put it back level.

The final 10 minutes of the first half became a level playing field with tries from both Trinity and the Giants. Bill Tupou got the first after he got on the back of a great pass from Danny Brough who caused a bit of chaos in the Giants defence.

Louis Senior responded straight away for the visitors to put them ahead by two points but Arundel ensured that the visitors were not in the lead for long after he got on the outside of his opposition to cross for Trinity’s third try.

The second half certainly lived up to the first 40 minutes with a further five tries, three of them for Trinity.

The Giants were penalised once more with their second player being sent to the sin bin; this time being Ben Wardle.

Trinity furthered their lead after a grubber kick from Danny Brough to find Tom Johnstone who finished spectacularly in the corner before the visitors pulled it back to just two points again after Alex Mellor forced his way over from close range for the Giants.

Trinity responded well with two back-to-back tries from Ben Jones-Bishop and Tom Johnstone to go into a 10 point lead however Alex Mellor got the final try of the game on the 79th minute to pull it back to just four points.

Full Time: Wakefield Trinity 28-24 Wakefield Trinity