Giants too hot for Rovers

A brilliant first-half performance from Huddersfield Giants sent them on their way to a convincing 40-12 win over Hull KR in the fourth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

Jamahl Lolesi opened the scoring before three further tries in quick succession left the visitors with a mountain to climb.

Rovers briefly responded with a Jake Webster try rounding off a spell of pressure, but the tries kept coming for the hosts and any hopes of a comeback were firmly quashed.

Huddersfield thought they had taken the lead with four minutes gone as Leroy Cudjoe beat Shaun Briscoe to the ball before flicking it into the path of Lolesi.

The Kiwi was left with a free path across the line from a few metres out but play was brought back after Cudjoe's flick was adjudged to have travelled forward.

Hull KR also threatened in the early stages and came within inches of taking the lead as Joel Clinton lost the ball when reaching for the line under a tackle from Luke Robinson.

Opening try

Lolesi then crossed the line again at the other end as Cudjoe leapt to knock down a Kevin Brown kick into his hands and this time the score counted.

Hodgson knocked through a difficult conversion and Huddersfield should have added even more points moments later but Lee Gilmour elected to kick in the midst of a dynamic break.

Brown then went close before the Robins finally brought a halt to the spell of pressure with only a six-point deficit.

But with 25 minutes gone, the hosts scored again as explosive replacement Eorl Crabtree drew in several Hull KR defenders by the posts before the ball was spread out wide for David Fa'alogo to finish the move off.

A third try was scored before the half-hour mark as Brown released David Faiumu, who played in scrum-half Robinson for an easy score and simple conversion.

The pressure showed no signs of abating as Andy Raleigh looked to pounce on a loose ball beyond the try-line, but Kris Welham hacked the ball away at the last moment.

Brown's influential display continued as his brilliant pass played David Hodgson into the corner to make it 22-0 before the half-time break.

Pressure

After the interval, the hosts continued to pile on the pressure, but their initial attacks ground to a halt and Hull KR cleared after being awarded a penalty.

But the visitors eventually secured some territory of their own and Clint Newton's neat dink pass to Webster put their first try on the board with Michael Dobson adding the conversion.

Rovers threatened again soon afterwards but a promising kick only led to them trapping David Hodgson in the in-goal area.

However, any faint hopes of a dramatic comeback were killed off when an opportunistic Danny Brough intercepted a Ben Galea pass and took the ball all the way downfield for a try.

The Giants conceded again almost immediately as Brown was caught off-guard while trying to shepherd the ball beyond the dead ball line and Briscoe nipped in to touch down.

There was still time for Fa'alogo to claim his second try of the afternoon as he burst through the Rovers line and crashed in to score and a Martin Aspinwall try completed the rout in the dying stages.