Stuck here in Surrey so couldn't make today.

It looked like we were predictably outclassed by a very strong Giants team but are we showing signs of improving? Are there new patterns to our play, better defense? I feel we would have been even more heavily walloped last season.

Reviews are much appreciated

Yes please, how big was the crowd, home v away?

You will have to wait till that we'll known Fax Rugby Guru GFB gives his verdict.

Crowd 2014

Well I couldn't find many positives from today apart from having a run out. Hardly any moves or clean breaks. Defence at times o.k., poor at others. Shudds looked stronger and quicker which is to be expected unfortunately. But, as winning at HKR meant nowt, neither does today. Decent crowd for a training session about 50/50 of 2,000 ish. Grove, shudds. Durham White Velvet 4.2 % Mmm!

Without wishing to steal GFB's thunder Charlie, i was at the Shay today with Mrs LTD and we felt the following was where we are at:
Hudds put out a very strong side.
They were simply too big, too fast and won the ruck area and punished Fax's mistakes with clinical finishing.
We struggled to make many breaks against a very fast defence(offside at times but got away with it so you play to that)
That said they was some great scrambling defence on show.
We finished strongly at the end of both halves (better than letting opposition do that like we did last year!)
Not a Hull KR player in sight
Ground very heavy so negated Johnstone and Greenwoods twinkle toes!
Both Aussies showed some good touches with the prop getting hitman award and M.O.M.
All props contributed and will cause some problems against lesser opposition.
Some fisticuffs at times but nothing to worry the disciplinary board.
The PA announcer and system needs a review ! I didn't realise our new off season sigining was Norman Collier - complete with on/off mic!
Attendance announced as 14!
Plenty of Hudds fans in East stand and also a section in South stand
Golden gamble prize £189.
Will that do you?

That's very disappointing Malcolm, how many did Huddersfield bring.
I know it's easy for me to say, not being there, Yes it was only a friendly but a chance to see our new start against Super League opponents.
2014.

How did Robbo and Luke go.

From memory Robbo played in the second row and lasted full half then changes made. Luke was spelled with Richard Moore and the aussie prop. I am probably used to watching Luke being the dominant Fax prop and being on the field for most of the game that he didn't have the same impact today as I think the other props also contributed a lot more than those last year so he wasn't ploughing a lonely furrow today.Good sign that for me.
(Hudds pack big physical side as well-Crabtree off the bench!)

Possibly a little bit of artistic license regarding the crowd (even the North end section of the stand had a few folk in it), but from what I could see probably more Giants fans that Fax. A bit of a disappointing turnout to be honest from the blue 'n' white today - close to full price entry won't have helped though.

Game was a a bit boring on the whole, without a single real break for us until the last few minutes. Some glimmerings of a decent team for us, but snuffed out by a well organised Giants team that were obviously very keen on winning the game and showing their Championship neighbours where they belong! We kept going for the full 80, although a large squad and lots of interchanges will have helped that.

Slightly spoiled by the Giants bloke behind us, who brought his three young kids with him and then proceeded to come out with a stream of obscenities all through the game (the nonsensical stuff such as the opposition always being offside and your team never is).

It went as expected against Huddersfield's first team as far as I could see.
They are after all a top 4 SL team so come on we were never going to get near them really.
We struggled to break their line and made some silly errors but its what friendlies are for you learn from them hopefully, nobody shone but there was some good efforts from Ben Johnson at times and Cahalane.
We did look a bit out of our depth at times but finished strongly which was a good sign on the fitness front it was a heavy pitch, defence did okay worked hard and got a couple of tough calls off the Ref, still need to be a bit more creative but still better for the most part than last season. I think we need another centre as saxton is a bit too slow for me now bless him and poor under the high ball, he lost out again today for one of their tries.

Pretty much what LTD said.

Personally I were pretty impressed with what I saw despite the scoreline. It cant be stated enough the quality of the Huddersfield team that we played against.

They snuffed us out in attack which is to be totally expected, if we were allowed time on the ball against such superior opposition I would have been amazed. That said we did create one or two little half breaks and caused confusion in their defence a number of times with offloads out of the tackle, something that Paul Anderson would not have been pleased about. Our scrambling defence at times was top draw and their first 3 tries came from bad errors that lesser teams will probably not have forced. Their 4th and 5th tries I would imagine RM will be disappointed with as we were very slack and looked very tired and run off our feet which should not happen as much against teams from our division.

Negatives I thought from the game - Im hoping Sheriffe retired again after this game, nowhere near the standard we should be aiming for and unless Joe Martin is injured I cant see the sense in playing Sheriffe in front of him if RM wants to know who his cover at full back is. Potts didnt have the best of games either and with his pace negated because of the pitch I think we will get a lot more from Brown and cant see Potts getting much game time. We struggled again at hooker but that might have been a lot to do with the pace with which Hudds let us play. Other thing that will be interesting is if RM keeps up with playing a half back off the bench rather than at 13 and after today Im not sure he will know who he is going with out of Murrell, Place, and Johnson all of which at times showed glimpses of what they are capable of.

Positives - Saltonstall gave RM something to think about and had a really strong game, with Taylor rested and probably a shoe in for one centre berth he has probably put a bit of pressure on Tyrer for the other spot. Massive positive was our forwards were not run over by their opposites. Calahane is a beast and if he keeps that up we have a top player there. In Moore, Ambler and him we have some real beef upfront this season.

Another thing to consider as well was that we started the game with probably about 6 players starting who are likely to miss out starting in the Haven game. In the second half with a more likely line up on the pitch we looked a lot better than the first. laying some of the lower teams in friendlys can be a total waste of time because it can lull you in to a false sense of security but playing a team as good as this shows us where the bar is set and we will take more out of that game than say flogging someone like York or someone like that.

Im afraid it WONT do Ltd

as you haven't mentioned the main thing, the SCORE

Spot on. Saltonstall has looked good in both friendlys and don't see how he can't be in the starting 17 for haven.

From a neutral perspective, I didn't think Halifax were good nor terribly bad. Ball handling let you down and Huddersfield capitalised on a number of occasions. Giants were led around the field well by Brough, who was a class above. Fax just lacked composure in attack, some bad decisions here and there but that'll come in time for young Place and Johnston. Mitch Cahalane's shot on Craig Kopczak before he visited the sin bin was booming, cracking hit and a future fan favourite for sure. My match report will be up on here in a bit for anybody who fancies a butchers.

Don't bother with scorelines in friendlies Charlie-win or lose. I am sure I will put the score on though when the 'mighty Leythers' come to town!!!!Proves you read the post though!!!

Match report: www.nothingbutleague.com/giants- ... sfield-38/

Match report: www.nothingbutleague.com/giants- ... sfield-38/

Great match report thanks Danny

Having been at both games it would be really difficult to draw any comparisons about player performance based on these two games. They were at opposite ends of the spectrum - Hull fielded the majority of their academy team and their inexperience showed. As a result we beat them well with the majority of our players performing well- as you would expect. Yesterday was in a completely different league - top end Superleague first team and it was a really tough game in boggy conditions and none of our players were able to shine (but I wouldn't write anyone off on yesterday's performance)

That said we played with grit and to the end, and put in a really respectable performance - the score line could have been a lot worse.


I am heartened by what I have seen over these two friendlies, our fitness is much better and we seem better organised. We also have some good choices for every position, which we are going to need for the long season ahead.

Of course I read the post LTD , I value any info on Fax as I always look for the Fax result as I like Fax I have said this before , it's just Banter I like with you Faxers, I really do enjoy games at the Shay.I know what you mean about friendlies though not being important , but I still like to know the score and see my team win.Yesterday we at Leigh beat a very ordinary NWC team, but the Leigh team was mainly young lads , but it was a good run out for them.Anyway good luck in your build up to the new season, look forward to our game in Feb.

Its worth noting that to say Hull KR had what most people are calling a second team out, 11 of the players that played against us played in the victory over Hull the following week. Theres not just a gulf in class between top of SL and Championship but theres also a massive gulf in class between probably the top 6 or so in SL and the rest of SL. The Hull derby will likely feature two teams if not in, then very close to the bottom 4, and most of the top Championship teams would give those teams a very good game.

Hudds are very professional. They are masters of the grubby side of the game and the dark arts. Much like Wigan. So they will always find it easy against part time teams who try to employ similar tactics to take speed out of the game, and do it much better in return.

Cahalane looks a decent unit who won't be knocked about. Jury is still out on Place. He looked slow and unfit and detached from the action, and kicking from deep was appalling. Hopefully it is just the climate shock and he will come good with better weather

Agree re. Place I thought all his kicks lacked distance.

To be fair to Place he had so little time when kicking its not surprise his kicking wasnt the best, he will get much more time against lower opposition and his kicking against KR looked more than decent.

That PR system needs fixing!!!

Glad to see the cup back at huddersfield for a change

Not a problem mate. Will be back for when Sheffield visit The Shay, expecting a tough battle if yesterday was anything to go by.