HUDDERSFIELD Giants “shot themselves in the foot too many times” in their defeat to Warrington Wolves.

That is the view of their head coach Ian Watson, who was pleased with plenty of what he saw but not so much with others.

The Wire won 26-16 at the John Smith’s Stadium to make it two wins out of two in Super League for this year.

Huddersfield finished strongly with late tries from Will Pryce and Kevin Naiqama, but their rally came too late and they were made to rue not making the most of a largely dominant first half.

This was the Giants’ first competitive game of 2023 after their Round One trip to St Helens was postponed and as such, Watson believed the quality on show so early in the season was impressive on both sides.

He also highlighted the areas in which he thought Wire had the edge.

Warrington Guardian: Huddersfield boss Ian Watson during the gameHuddersfield boss Ian Watson during the game (Image: SWPix.com)

“I thought it was a really good game, to be fair – a really high-quality one,” he said.

“For the first game of the season, I think that was as good a game as you could have got.

“There was a really good arm-wrestle in there but I think we just shot ourselves in the foot too many times.

“Whether it’s balls over the top, little bits of execution or conceding the first time we’ve had to defend our goalline. We’ve got to be better there – we don’t want to be conceding 26 points.

“I thought Warrington did some really good things and we had some good signs in and around us as well.

“At half time we had to be more patient and do the right things, but conceding straight after coming out didn’t help.

“If we’d just stayed in it there, I think what happened in the end would still have happened and we’d get the win at the back end.

“We didn’t defend as well as what we needed to in those periods.”

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