Return of Leroy Cudjoe hailed despite agonising defeat for Huddersfield Giants

The former England centre made his first appearance in 14 months on Saturday night during a thrilling game against Warrington Wolves.

However, that does not really do the matter justice; it was also only Cudjoe’s second match in fully two years given the wretched nature of the knee injuries that have plagued him so badly.

Because of that, obviously there have been question marks about whether the popular 32-year-old could ever truly recover.

Indeed, he lost the captaincy of his home-town club this year and also saw his No 3 jersey taken by young Jake Wardle.

However, as Cudjoe – one of the most elegant centres around – eased through a gap in the first half to motor into space, everyone watching sensed he was back.

Granted, amid some hesitancy, the final pass for Jermaine McGillvary ended up in touch – coach Simon Woolford joked it looked like his player had “forgotten what to do” – but it was clear all the essential parts are sill in fine working order.

To emphasise that point, Cudjoe also came up with some wonderful footwork and a splendid offload that saw Olly Russell scramble over to level the game in the 73rd minute.

Only Blake Austin’s drop-goal three minutes later spoiled the Claret and Gold legend’s return, Giants losing again by the narrowest of margins having fallen in Golden Point extra-time to Leeds Rhinos in their previous outing.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, he said: “It was really good to be back out there playing; having so much time off you realise how much you miss playing the game.

“The key message for me beforehand was to get some early touches of the ball. I felt I had some good touches, in that first half especially.

“I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t finish off that break. I thought Jez would have been a bit quicker! No, in all seriousness, I should have executed that better.

“I’m gutted not to get the win, especially after the effort everyone put in. But I was happy with my performance as a first game back. I know I need to and will get better with more games and build up match fitness and combinations.

“This game will help my confidence a lot. Germ (Woolford) believed in me all this time. It certainly helps having people around who have confidence in you.”

It was certainly some “effort” from Woolford’s side; they played the final 23 minutes with no interchanges after seeing four players suffer injuries. England Knights prop Matty English who was stretchered off after a shoulder charge by Ben Murdoch-Masila in the fourth minute. There was clear contact to the head but, controversially, the Tonga second-row was only sin-binned by referee Ben Thaler.

Huddersfield also lost Adam Walne and Ukuma Ta’ai before half-time but somehow stayed in the game with home-grown forward Sam Hewitt having a terrific effort off the bench. Most crucially, though, captain Aidan Sezer tweaked a hamstring failing to convert the try he had set up for McGillvary in the 53rd minute.

That brought Giants back to just 14-12 behind but Warrington countered with Tom Lineham’s try until Russell’s late score.

After Austin struck, the 20-year-old Russell – who replaced Australian scrum-half Sezer – had one chance to set up for a drop goal but fumbled.

Already without regular stand-off Lee Gaskell, Giants were left with a relatively inexperienced half-back duo of Russell and Tom Holmes to guide them home.

Unfortunately, they just lacked the game-management to fashion another clear-cut chance, Russell having to rush an effort from distance with the last play.

Giants had imploded against Leeds, letting a 26-6 lead slip, and Cudjoe conceded: “The last two losses have been tough to take. We need to learn how to finish off those sorts of games.

“But we can still take a lot from this game given we had no bench for 20 minutes, had no middles for large periods of the game and were still in it with three minutes to go; that is a massive effort.”

The game was locked 8-8 at half-time with Wolves having seen Austin also yellow-carded for a trip, Ta’ai scoring a try for Giants with Ben Currie responding.

But Wolves crossed in the 42nd minute via Gareth Widdop from Toby King’s pass that looked forward before that dramatic finish.

Woolford was delighted with Cudjoe’s contribution and said: “It was a big tick for Leroy. There were a lot of good signs there that there’s real hope that Leroy is going to get back somewhere near his best. That’s very pleasing because at his best he’s probably still going to be one of the premier centres in the game.”

Huddersfield Giants: Golding; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Jake Wardle, McIntosh; Holmes, Sezer; English, O’Brien, Matagi, Edwards, Ta’ai, Lawrence. Substitutes: Russell, Hewitt, Wood, Walne.

Warrington Wolves: Ratchford; Lineham, Mamo, King, Charnley; Austin, Widdop; Hill, D Clark, Cooper, Currie, Murdoch-Masila, Hughes. Substitutes: J Clark, Philbin, Akauola, Walker.

Referee: B Thaler (Wakefield).

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