Huddersfield Giants 6-20 Catalans Dragons: Challenge Cup semi secured by Dragons
Last Updated: 01/06/18 7:25am
Two-try Catalans Dragons booked their place in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup semi-finals with a 20-6 victory over Huddersfield Giants at the John Smith's Stadium.
Josh Drinkwater's two first-half penalties were the only points during a low-scoring opening 40 minutes.
Leroy Cudjoe's try, converted by Danny Brough, started the second half and put the Giants ahead - 6-4 - for the first time before the visitors responded immediately through David Mead.
Drinkwater's third and fourth penalties gave the Dragons a 14-6 cushion going into the final quarter.
Greg Bird's close-range try, once again converted by their half-back, ultimately sealed the deal and put Steve McNamara's team just one game away from their first Challenge Cup final since 2007.
The stop-start nature of the game won't have concerned Catalans' head coach as his side finished their evening's work with a fifth win from their last six games.
Cudjoe's try on his 250th career appearance - his first for nine months following major knee surgery - briefly suggested the Giants might extend their own winning run to five matches but the overall performance will have provided plenty to think about for their new head coach Simon Woolford.
Catalans, who gave a debut to New Zealand back-row forward Kenny Edwards, their new signing from Parramatta, relied on their aggressive defence to grind out their 4-0 interval lead and strengthened their grip in the second half.
The only scores up to half-time came at the beginning and end of the 40 minutes from the boot of Drinkwater with two penalty goals.
Huddersfield winger Darnell McIntosh produced the only clean break before the interval and Catalans winger Lewis Tierney was perhaps fortunate to avoid a spell in the sin-bin for holding him down after getting back to make the tackle.
The Giants' veteran half-back Danny Brough was not so fortunate after slow-motion replays unveiled dangerous-looking tackle on Edwards, six minutes after he went on for his debut, which earned the former Scotland captain a yellow card.
However, the Yorkshire side defended comfortably enough during Brough's absence to keep their line intact.
The scrappy nature of the game was not helped by both sides having to reshuffle their line-ups after the Dragons' former Huddersfield winger Jodie Broughton and Giants centre Jake Mamo were both withdrawn through injury in the first half.
The slow-burner sprung to life at the start of the second half.
Cudjoe took advantage of hooker Kruise Leeming's crabbing run across the face of the Catalans defence to force his way over out wide for the first try of the game and Brough's touchline conversion gave Huddersfield the lead.
But it lasted only three minutes as the home side turned over possession inside their own half and centre David Mead pounced for a try after McIntosh fumbled Tony Gigot's high kick.
Drinkwater added the conversion and kicked two more penalties to extend his side's lead to 14-6 before veteran stand-off Greg Bird went through a gap in the Huddersfield defence for the Dragons' second try on 67 minutes.
Brough was denied a try for obstruction and, although the visitors finished with 12 men with Ben Garcia sin-binned for foul play, they were worthy winners as they booked their place in the Macron Stadium semi-finals on August 5.
