Sport : Rugby League

Brown recalls Giants trio

15th July 2012, 04:15pm

Dale Ferguson: Set to line up for the Giants

Dale Ferguson: Set to line up for the Giants

Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown has recalled utility back Simon Grix and forwards Dale Ferguson and Jacob Fairbank for Sunday's Challenge Cup semi-final with Warrington.

Australian forward Luke O'Donnell has been ruled out due to injury and Jason Chan misses his first game for the club.

Winger Luke George, the club's leading tryscorer, is set to continue despite being concussed in last week's 52-6 defeat to Castleford.

As expected, England prop Eorl Crabtree is in the 19-man squad after being rested for that game.

Warrington coach Tony Smith has included injury doubts Lee Briers and Trent Waterhouse in his initial 19-man squad.

Waterhouse was taken to hospital with a bleeding eyeball following last Monday's win over Catalan Dragons, a game Briers missed because of an Achilles problem.

Crabtree insists the Giants can put their woeful Super League form behind them and reach Wembley.

The Giants go into the semi-final having won just one of their last eight league games to drop from top to seventh in the table.

But England international Crabtree believes the team can quickly bounce back.

"The good thing about sudden-death football is you only need a decent game," said Huddersfield's longest-serving player.

"We proved at the beginning of the season that we can beat the top teams, we need to take that belief into this game.

"It doesn't really matter that we got hammered at the weekend because this week's a different game but we do need to find a bit of form sharpish."

Crabtree, who was rested for the Castleford game after playing for England in midweek, says the Giants can take encouragement from the Tigers, who responded to a heavy defeat by bottom club Widnes just seven days earlier.

"Cas had been in terrible form but suddenly came out and hammered us," he said. "Sometimes that's as simple as it is.

"If we turn up with the right motivation, which I'm sure everybody will because it's a final we're talking about, then I'm sure we'll all have a go. We'll all rip in together and give ourselves a shot."

The game is a repeat of the 2009 final won by Warrington, who have triumphed in the last seven Challenge Cup meetings with Huddersfield going back to 1933.

The Wolves also knocked Huddersfield out of the play-offs last year and won 32-22 at the Galpharm Stadium in February.

"We always seem to be playing them," Crabtree said. "We know a lot about them.

"They've got some great players and some players in great form but it's probably more about ourselves and putting in a decent performance."

Warrington squad: Atkins, Bridge, Briers, Carvell, Cooper, Harrison, Higham, Hill, Hodgson, McCarthy, J Monaghan, M Monaghan, Morley, O'Brien, Ratchford, Riley, Waterhouse, Westwood, Wood.

Huddersfield squad: Grix, Lawrence, Cudjoe, Gilmour, Brown, Brough, Crabtree, Robinson, Mason, Fa'alogo, Faiumu, Patrick, Ferguson, Lee, George, Murphy, Fairbank, Eden, Moore.

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