Tuesday, 16 July 2019

Tomkins masterclass sees off Giants

Catalans Dragons 32 (22)
T: Broughton 2, Tomkins 3, Williame
G: Tomkins 4

Huddersfield Giants 28 (12)
T: I Senior 2, Gaskell, McIntosh, Jacob Wardle
G: Jacob Wardle 4

The damage was done in the first half as Sam Tomkins put on a virtuoso performance in the first half of the Super League clash at the Gasworks Ground in Huddersfield.

The home side's right-side defence was leakier than the UK Embassy in Washington as Tomkins prodded, probed and slid through for a hat-trick and had a hand in an another for the in-form Jodie Broughton.

Broughton and his centre partner Brayden Williame also got in on the act after the break until the inevitable fightback from the Giants thanks to a combination of the Dragons putting the cue in the rack and Kenny Edwards talking himself into a late yellow card - an expletive-ridden rant which earned him a one-match suspension - but the gap was too great and the Dragons closed out a rare away win.

Tomkins was playing in a dinner jacket in that first period. Nobody could get near him in probably his best performance in a Dragons shirt. Credit also to a depleted pack who still more than held their own and laid the platform from which the England star wove his magic.

It wasn't perfect, but it was plenty good enough and leaves the Dragons well in the hunt for those play-offs.

Wobbles over? Safe to say that there'll be tougher opposition than the Giants who remain just two points above the drop zone, but an away win is always a rare treat for long-suffering fans on UK shores. We'll take it.