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Thorman, Chris |
  Chris THORMAN [Player Stats] + Submit additional information or a correction to this player 
Thorman dominates as Giants end 35-year Bradford drought Sat May 19, 2007 Source: www.superleague.co.uk Huddersfield Giants ended their 35-year wait for a league win over Bradford Bulls and did it in style, running the depleted Bulls ragged to clinch a seventh successive victory that lifted them to fourth place in the engage Super League. The Bulls were the only team the Giants had not defeated in engage Super League but that record was effectively over by half-time after a perfect first 40 minutes by Jon Sharp's in-form team. Brimming with confidence after eight successive league and cup wins, Huddersfield established a commanding 24-0 lead at the break, largely through the boot of Brad Drew, whose skilful kicking set up tries for Stephen Wild and John Skandalis in the first quarter. Bradford went into the game on the back of 27 successive league wins over Huddersfield going back to 1972, but with a side depleted by the loss of seven regulars through injury and suspension. The Giants knew they would never have a better chance of ending their dismal run and they looked determined from the outset to seize their opportunity. The Bulls thought they had scored after just 40 seconds when prop Andy Lynch went over from Ian Henderson's pass, but video referee Ben Thaler disallowed the try for a double movement. Lesley Vainikolo - hoping to improve his remarkable scoring rate of 143 tries in 146 appearances before leaving for rugby union - was the obvious danger to the Giants defence, but he was directly responsible for them opening the scoring on 10 minutes. He was first to Drew's grubber kick but spilled the ball and Wild followed up to touch down. Then, 10 minutes later, the clever Drew was at it again, this time kicking ahead for Skandalis to take advantage of a kind bounce to record his first-ever Super League try. Thorman kicked both conversions and added a penalty on 28 minutes to make it 14-0 as Bradford struggled in the blustery conditions to get out of their own half. The Bulls, who gave a debut to 21-year-old scrum-half Richie Hawkyard and had three players with just one engage Super League start between them on the bench, made life difficult for themselves with a series of handling errors. And it was no surprise when Huddersfield extended their lead six minutes before half-time with the best move of the match. Towering forward Eorl Crabtree got the ball rolling with a superb offload and Thorman and Robbie Paul combined to get second rower Stuart Jones romping over. Thorman kicked his fourth goal and then added a fourth try, snapping up a loose ball and handing off centre Ben Harris on a 60-metre sprint to the line. Bradford had the wind at their backs as they attempted to launch a fightback and they opened their account just five minutes after the restart. Second rower David Solomona, whose hands let him down in the first half, found his touch to send Vainikolo over for his 14th try of the season and the 144th of his Bradford career, which Iestyn Harris converted. The Gloucester-bound winger was hurt in the tackle shortly afterwards, however, and limped off to be replaced by Dave Halley. Huddersfield substitute Paul Jackson thought he had scored his first of the season when taking Paul's pass to go through a gap, but he had the misfortune to drop the ball over the line. Then it was Solomona's turn to have a try disallowed, the video referee ruling he failed to ground the ball over the line. Huddersfield finally secured the win when Brown opened the visitors' defence with a slick dummy and slid through for their fifth try, with Thorman kicking his fifth goal. Wild then illustrated the Giants' desire and enthusiasm by racing back to deny Halley what looked like a certain try, but the home side were powerless to prevent Ben Harris grabbing a late consolation touchdown. But Huddersfield had the final say when Ryan Hudson broke through and kicked ahead for Thorman to claim his second try of the match. The skipper added the conversion to finish with a 20-point haul. Huddersfield Giants (24) 36. Tries: Thorman 2, Wild, Skandalis, Jones, Brown. Goals: Thorman 6. Bradford (0) 12. Tries: Vainikolo, B. Harris. Goals: I. Harris 2. Huddersfield Giants: Thorman, Reilly, Lolesi, Nero, Aspinwall, Brown, Drew, Mason, Hudson, Skandalis, Jones, Raleigh, Wild. Replacements: Paul, Crabtree, Jackson, Griffin. Bradford Bulls: St Hilaire, McAvoy, B. Harris, Evans, Vainikolo, I. Harris, Hawkyard, Vagana, Henderson, Lynch, Morrison, Solomona, Burgess. Replacements: McKenna, Kopczak, James, Halley. Referee: Phil Bentham Report source: www.superleague.co.uk Article: Sharp hails Giants display Thorman delight at being named Huddersfield captain Tue January 30, 2007 Source: www.giantsrl.com Huddersfield Giants stand off Chris Thorman is once again delighted to have been handed the Captain's armband for Super League XII. The 26-year-old commented to www.giantsrl.com, "It is a great honour once again to be named as captain." He added: "It's nice to be acknowledged by the coaches as captain and be the leader of this formidable squad that we have put together. It's also great to have Drewy (Brad Drew) as vice captain again and after the hard work that we've put in pre season I know how much everyone in the squad is looking forward to the new season. "The senior players in the squad are always a great help to me and when we've got the likes of John Skandalis who have done pretty much everything in the NRL and is a natural leader on the field it makes my job that much easier." Tickets for the Super League opener against the Champions St Helens on Sunday 4th February at 7.05pm are now available. The Galpharm Stadium Ticket Hotline is 0870 4444 552 and the opening hours are 9am until 5pm Monday to Friday and 9am until 12 Midday on Saturday's. News sent by: www.giantsrl.com
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