Sharp: Furious

Related links

Teams

• Catalans Dragons
• Huddersfield Giants

Also see

• R League on Sky
• Rugby League Scores
• Sky Sports experts

Huddersfield coach Jon Sharp admitted his men deserved to lose against the Catalans Dragons on Friday night.

After a slow start, the Giants recovered to lead 12-4 at one stage, but the French outfit came away from the Galpharm with a 20-16 victory in the end.

The Dragons made it five games unbeaten and moved up into fifth in the Super League table after a superb run of form.

Luke Robinson almost snatched a late win for Huddersfield when he raced clear but Catalans hooker Aaron Gorrell pulled off a try-saving tackle.

Even if they had got over the line, Sharp insists they would not have deserved to win the game.

"If we had scored and won or drawn the match, we wouldn't have deserved it," said Sharp.

Poor Giants

"It would have papered over the cracks. I thought we were poor. We lacked patience and made too many errors.

"Catalans put us under pressure and kicked better than us. We spent too much time defending our own line.

"We lacked a bit of quality out there. We had five quality strike players missing - and it showed."

There was a note of controversy when Chris Thorman's conversion of substitute Darrell Griffin's 78th-minute try was disallowed because he drop-kicked the ball over the bar in an effort to save time.

"He did the same thing last year and was awarded a goal," said a bemused Sharp.

"But it's the last thing on my mind, and it shouldn't be a talking point."

Inspired scrum-half Thomas Bosc sparkled for the Dragons with a solo try to add to scores from David Ferriol and Jamal Fakir - who scored his first try for almost two years.

"It was a good win, and I'm very happy to get the two points," said Catalans coach Mick Potter.

"I was very worried at the end, but we're just starting to learn how to hang in matches and finish strong enough to hold on.

"Earlier in the year, we probably would have dropped those two points."