Just like the first semi-final, the second men´s game at Elland Road saw adjacent two sides thrown together for the second final spot as the Huddersfield Giants looked to secure their first final spot since 2009 with the hurdle in their way being a Hull KR side hoping that they could return for the first time since their heavy defeat in 2015.
Tony Smith´s main aim, before his departure from the Robins at the end of the season, is to get his side into finals and give themselves a chance of silverware. Ian Watson´s sleeping Giants from Huddersfield also need to win some major silverware to end a drought and win their first Challenge Cup since 1953.
There was the potential for it to be another classic, but we were to be disappointed.
Ricky Leutele was first over the whitewash on eight, but referee Moore spotted an obstruction in the build-up and had blown the whist before the Giants full-back touched down. But on ten minutes the Giants did hit the front with Josh Jones being in position to take an Olly Russell short pass and go ten metres to score by the uprights. Russell added the conversion for 6-0 to settle the nerves.
On eighteen Ricky Leutele took a Jordan Abdull high kick on his own line and broke for ten metres before finding Innes Senior who put on the afterburner and went ninety metres to score. Russell was again accurate with the boot, the Giants 12-0 ahead.
The second half scoring was initiated by a sensational Jermaine McGillvary try after he took a Lolohea pass on his own forty and showed a clean pair of heels to three Hull KR tacklers to go over in the right corner. Russell´s conversion fell just short of the sticks from the touchline.
With the Robins offside on forty-five, Russell kicked a two-pointer for 18-0 to stretch the lead to three converted tries, KR now up against it.
The win was in the bag on fifty-five as Owen Trout burrowed under the KR tacklers to ground by the left upright as he hit the pass at speed from five metres out. Russell added the conversion for 24-0, there was no way back for KR.
A Theo Fages one pointer on the hour mark further twisted the knife.
After a long pause to consult the video referee Shaun Kenny-Dowall was adjudged to have grounded the ball on the line on the left corner as he crossed on his back on seventy-seven minutes. It was the Robins first points for one hundred and sixty-nine minutes of rugby, but when the kick hit the upright it wasn´t improved and did little to save face.
Hull KR were never in this as the Huddersfield Giants coasted into the Challenge Cup final and a date with the Wigan Warriors at the end of the month at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Ian Watson sent his boys out with a game plan and his charges followed it to the letter as they shut out the Robins and left Tony Smith scratching his head as to what went wrong as his side capitulated, only managing to score their first points in two games in the dying minutes.
Huddersfield Giants: Lolohea, McGillvary (T), Cudjoe, Leutele, Senior (T), Russell (4G), Fages (DG), Hill, Levi, Wilson, Jones (T), McQueen, Yates. Subs: Ikahihifo, Greenwood, Trout (T), Golding.
Hull KR: Dagger, Ryan, Crooks, Kenny-Dowall (T), Hall, Milnes, Abdull, Storton, Parcell, King, Hadley, Linnett, Minchella. Subs: Litten. Sims, Keinhorst, Richards.
Half-Time: 12-0.
Full-Time: 25-4.
Score Progression: 4-0, 6-0, 10-0, 12-0: HT : 16-0, 18-0, 22-0, 24-0, 25-0, 25-4 : FT.
Referee: Liam Moore.
