WOLVES bagged an important and impressive victory as they sent title rivals Huddersfield Giants to only their second home defeat of the season.

A loss would have seen Tony Smith’s men fall six points adrift of leaders Wigan Warriors but they ended Huddersfield’s five-match unbeaten run after taking control in the first half.

The pack men, in particular Garreth Carvell, Trent Waterhouse, Paul Wood, Ben Westwood and Micky Higham, were immense in setting the platform.

Wolves were efficient and clinical as they built up a 22-6 lead in the opening 40 minutes, with Waterhouse crossing for two of the four tries.

And although they failed to cash in on Danny Brough’s sin-binning at the end of the first period, tries from Brett Hodgson and Ryan Atkins in a scruffier second half enabled Wolves to complete a stylish double over Paul Anderson’s men.

Wolves delivered without the services of the Monaghan brothers, who were both sidelined with injuries, and it sends the boys into the Challenge Cup fifth round against Salford next Sunday on an unbeaten four-match sequence.

Smith will be happy with their improving defence, holding the competition’s second highest scorers to just two tries – one a gift from a Chris Riley knock on, while Wolves worked hard to wipe out the disappointment of conceding a soft fourth-minute opening score.

That came on the back of a 40/20 kick from Brough. Luke Robinson’s looping pass found Jermaine McGilvary with space on the outside of Chris Riley to touch down and Brough’s touchline conversion made it 6-0.

But Wolves responded quickly after Jason Chan knocked on in the re-start set.

A surging Mike Cooper run took Wolves to within inches of the Huddersfield try line where Micky Higham burrowed over from dummy half, with Brett Hodgson’s conversion levelling matters in the seventh minute.

Wolves took the lead thanks to a good chase of a Stefan Ratchford kick. Giants full back Scott Grix took an age to regather and fumbled in the greeting tackle, allowing Waterhouse to scoop up and barge through McGilvary to cross in the corner after 17 minutes.

Waterhouse was in position to finish off again seven minutes later, this time pounding on to a short pass from Hodgson whose second conversion moved Wolves 16-6 in front.

Stealing the ball off Carvell on his first carry paved the way for Wolves to raid again.

A powerful drive took Westwood to within inches of the try line. As Simon Grix attempted to barge over the ball went to ground only for Ratchford to regather, kick through a crowd of players and snatch the ball from Scott Grix’s grasp to touch down in the 29th minute. Hodgson’s extras made it 22-6.

The half ended with Brough being sent to the sin bin after the intervention of a touch judge for an incident during a tackle on Westwood. With there being only 30 seconds to go, Hodgson elected to take a shot at goal from the touchline but his effort drifted wide.

A failure to complete three of their sets during Brough’s absence meant Wolves failed to capitalise on the extra man.

Moments after Brough’s return, though, Wolves were gifted a penalty on their last tackle and Hodgson made the home team pay when he scorched over on an angled run in the 53rd minute and converted from the touchline for 28-6.

Chris Riley knocked on in Luke Robinson’s tackle during a kick return, gifting a debut try to Kruise Leeming in the 56th minute.

Brough’s conversion cut the gap to 28-12 but it was not the spark for a late home rally.

The sweet offload from Danny Bridge that sent Ryan Atkins over in the 70th minute made sure of that.

Wolves: Brett Hodgson; Rhys Williams, Simon Grix, Ryan Atkins, Chris Riley; Stefan Ratchford, Richie Myler; Chris Hill, Mick Higham, Paul Wood, Ben Westwood, Trent Waterhouse, Mike Cooper. Subs: Garreth Carvell, Ben Currie, Danny Bridge, Glenn Riley.

Giants: Scott Grix; Jermaine McGilvary, Leroy Cudjoe, Aaron Murphy, Matty Dawson; Danny Brough, Luke Robinson; Larne Patrick, Shaun Lunt, Craig Kopczak, Jason Chan, Dale Ferguson, Michael Lawrence. Subs: Eorl Crabtree, Ukuma Ta’ai, Anthony Mullally, Kruise Leeming.

Referee: Ben Thaler