A 33-14 defeat saw last year’s table-toppers drop into the bottom half and leaves them still searching for their first home win of the 2014 First Utility Super League.
There were encouraging signs as the Giants, who had drawn their first two home games of 2014, led 14-4 at half-time but their second-half collapse was all-too-reminiscent of their earlier below-par performances.
The scores were level at 14-14 on the hour but the Wolves cut loose in the final quarter, scoring at a point a minute to secure a 10th straight win over their Yorkshire rivals.
“That’s what can happen when teams are chasing the game,” Smith said. “It’s happened to us. When you are behind on the scoreboard, it creates pressure and you become a bit desperate.
“There wasn’t much in that first half between two teams who aren’t just quite quite clicking.
“They will click at some stage soon, there’s no doubt about that. They’ve got too many good players for them not to click.
“They’re not quite nailing their game at the moment but it will come for them. We will have some more hard battles with Huddersfield as the year goes on.”
Elsewhere, Widnes maintained fourth spot thanks to a 22-18 win over Bradford and Hull KR put back-to-back wins together for the first time for eight months with a 44-6 rout of Wakefield.
Wildcats coach Richard Agar admitted he was shocked by the performance of his side as they crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season.
“It’s fair to say we didn’t see that coming,” Agar said. “It’s thrown up a lot of question marks for us as to why we would get a performance so lacking in skill, smartness and, at times, effort and desire.
“What we served up there was terribly, terribly short of where it needed to be. Some of the defence in the second half looked at times like they’d given up.
“They’re the questions that we’re talking to our guys about, that lack of effort. I’m not going to shy away and hide from that. It’s a trait that I don’t think has too many times been levelled at us.
“I thought at times in the second half, some of the tries showed a complete lack of effort and we’d stuck up a white flag. That’s a difficult one for us as coaches.”
Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/22749174
Rugby League - Smith: Giants will have better days
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