HUDDERSFIELD’S Fenton Rogers was sent off two minutes after the incident which led to his dismissal as the curtain came down on Super League’s regular season.
Forward Rogers cocked an elbow as he returned a kick-off eight minutes before halftime, striking Castleford’s Tyler Dupree, who later went for a HIA.
But referee Tara Jones allowed play to continue until video ref Marcus Griffths intervened in the 35th minute and Rogers was sent off.
Despite being reduced to 12 men, Huddersfield scored almost immediately through centre Jacob Gagai, the conversion making it 24-6. And they kicked right on to win 48-16 with Gagai starring.
Earlier, Taane Milne opened the scoring for the home side with half Tui Lolohea converting, with hooker Liam Hood scrambling over for Cas in response.
Prop Tristan Powell was next to cross for Huddersfield in the 25th minute, followed by Connor Wrench in the 30th. It was the restart from this try where the Rogers incident recalled.
Two minutes after halftime, five-eighth Daejarn Asi used his best footwork to post a Castleford try and have the Giants scrambling to cover for their opponents’ numerical advantage.
But Castleford were poor when they had opportunities and sometimes seemed determined to gift the contest to their short-handed opponents.
Eventually, the gift was accepted as Zac Woolford latched onto a late offload to score from close range. Lewis Jagger got his share of the spoils in the 72nd minute.
Milne made a route against a team with an extra man, scoring in the final 90 seconds of the regular season.
HUDDERSFIELD 48 (Gagai 2 Milne 2 Powell Wrench Woolford Jagger tries Lolohea 7 Zenon goals) bt CASTLEFORD 16Â (Hood Asi Lane tries McNamara 2 goals) at Accu Stadium.
Teams:
HUDDERSFIELD: Niall Evalds, Taane Milne, Dane Gagai, Connor Wrench, Lewis Jagger; Tui Lolohea, Adam Clune; Harry Rushton, Joe Greenwood, Sam Hewitt, Tristan Powell, Zac Woolford, George King. Res: Fento Rogers, Kieran Rush, Jack Billington, Tanguy Zenon.
CASTLEFORD: Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e, Daniel Sarbah, Kristian Mapapalangi, Alex Mellor (c), Innes Senior; Daejarn Asi, Ben McNamara; Jack Brown, Liam Hood, George Lawler, Jordan Lane, Brock Greacan, Joe Stimson. Res: Caine Robb, Sam Hall, Tyler Dupree.
Referee: Tara Jones.
s
