Huddersfield boss Ian Watson takes responsibility after latest Giants defeat

Ian Watson refused to criticise his players after Huddersfield slumped to their third defeat in a row, saying after Friday night’s 30-4 home defeat to Leigh: “I’m at fault because I picked the team.”

The Giants have now lost four of their five games and sit in 10th spot in the Betfred Super League standings.

Huddersfield trailed 12-0 at half-time and never really got going at the John Smith’s Stadium, with Kevin Naiqama scoring a late consolation try.

The Giants were without several key players through injury, such as Theo Fages and Olly Roberts, and Watson said their absence is hurting his side.

“I don’t want to be too critical in terms of the attack,” he said.

“We’ve not got those halves who can square defences up. You lose people like Theo and Olly, the control of the team, and you’re in trouble.

“We’re the problem and we need to be the solution. The last three weeks have been terrible from us and not good enough.

“We had a real simple game plan today. I’m at fault because I picked the team. I’m the one who makes the decisions. It’s only us who can fix it.”

Watson bemoaned his team’s lack of patience and errors in the second half.

“Leigh are a very good attacking football team,” he said.

“We need we had to build pressure on them. We have to be patient and we weren’t, we kicked on tackle four.

“At 12-0 you could see our ruck was starting to get really quick. We needed to start the second half well but we didn’t.

“Players were over-trying and making silly errors. It kind of epitomises where we are. We didn’t have any field position really and when we did we made an error. The first half wounded us in what we wanted to do.”

Leigh coach Adrian Lam hailed his team and their toughness after they claimed their fourth win in a row.

The Leopards have bucked expectations after being promoted from the Championship and are now up to fifth place after tries from Josh Charnley (two), Ben Reynolds, Joe Mellor and Lachlan Lam saw off Huddersfield.

“I loved how our team went with it and I’m very proud of how we hang in there,” Lam said.

“There’s still two or three levels we can go up as a team. I’m pleased with the resilience we had. It was a very physical game.

“Ricky Leutele was good, coming back to his old club. (Tom) Briscoe and (Zak) Hardaker were very good as well.

“I think they’re all playing for each other. It’s taken us 11 rounds to get into the top six and we want to stay here.”

Published: 13/05/2023 by Radio NewsHub