Sharp Words Try to Hound Hull With Underdogs Tag

Hull may have finished three points and two places ahead of Wigan in the final Super League table but their coach, Peter Sharp, knows his team will be underdogs in the second round of the play-offs next Saturday night. "They're massive favorites, Wigan, and rightly so," the Australian joked after a patchy performance that was just enough here. "We shouldn't even be in the game, should we?"

After guiding Hull to their first grand final last autumn, Sharp has been in British rugby league long enough to appreciate Wigan's stature. Their stunning fightback from 24 points down to win 31-30 at Bradford on Friday reinforced the suspicion that Brian Noble's team would be the story of this year's play-offs.

But Sharp will not need to be a psychological master to suggest to his own players this week that such underdog status is a slight on their own ability. After all, Hull have won 10 games out of 12 since July, conceding only six tries in tough victories over Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield in the last three.

For all their lack of attacking fluency on Saturday night, they had this game comprehensively won at 22-6 with six minutes remaining before Brad Drew set up a couple of late tries on his last Huddersfield appearance to produce a breathless finish. Hull would have been further ahead, too, without an outstanding defensive performance by the Giants' loose forward Stephen Wild who surely confirmed his right to a starting place in the Great Britain team for this autumn's home series against New Zealand.

However Sharp has worries over the fitness of Mathew Head, and the availability of Garreth Carvell. Head, the Australian scrum-half who joined Hull in mid-season, underlined his value with a series of kicks that could have produced more than the first of two tries for Gareth Raynor, but was withdrawn after 55 minutes to nurse his shoulder injury.

Noble, who was at the KC Stadium as a BBC pundit, therefore has one obvious target for his big forwards to run at, and will also have been encouraged by Hull's lack of creativity and composure after Head's departure.

Carvell, who is now established as one of the Super League's most aggressive and damaging props, could face disciplinary action for his involvement in the game's most controversial incident and arguably its turning point - a bloodcurdling tackle on Paul Reilly that went unpunished and forced the ball loose for Tommy Lee to score Hull's second try. "I thought it was all right - it's a semi-final," said Sharp, describing it as "a tough hit, a great shot". Jon Sharp, Huddersfield's coach, did not agree.

Jon Sharp described the Giants' performance as "starting slowly and finishing strong - very symbolic of our year". Their first play-off appearance was an impressive achievement after they lost their first seven matches of the season, particularly given the limited resources with which he has assembled his squad, and they should be even stronger next year for the recruitment of Paul Whatuira, Luke Robinson and David Hodgson.

However it appears increasingly likely that Robbie Paul has played his last game for the Giants, with Jon Sharp sounding resigned to losing the veteran New Zealander for a high-profile swansong with Noble, his former Bradford coach, at Wigan.

Hull FC Tony; Sing, Whiting, Yeaman, Raynor; R Horne, Head; Dowes, Lee, Carvell, Radford, Manu, Tickle. Interchange King, Godwin, Washbrook, Wheeldon.

Huddersfield Giants Thorman; Reilly, Lolesi, Nero, Jensen; Brown, Drew; Mason, Hudson, Skandalis, Raleigh, Jones, Wild. Interchange Paul, Griffin, Snitch, Crabtree.

Referee A Klein (Silsden).

Road to Old Trafford

Elimination play-offs

Sept 21 Bradford 30 Wigan 31

Sept 22 Hull 22 Huddersfield 16

Qualifying semi-final

Sept 28, 8pm St Helens v Leeds

Elimination semi-final

Sept 29, 7pm Hull v Wigan

Final eliminator

Oct 5, 8pm Losers of qualifying SF v winners of elimination SF

Grand final

Oct 13, 6.30pm winners of qualifying SF v winners of final eliminator

(Old Trafford)