Pryce gave a sparkling first-half display

Huddersfield 10 (10)
Tries: Gardner
Goals: Thorman 3

St Helens 18 (14)
Tries: Gilmour 2, Pryce, Gardner
Goals: Long

Defending champions St Helens kicked-off the new Super League season with a hard-fought win over Huddersfield at Galpharm Stadium.

Lee Gilmour scored the first try of 2007 before Chris Thorman reduced the deficit with a penalty kick.

Leon Pryce scored Saints' second after a break by James Roby before setting up Ade Gardner to score in the corner.

Mat Gardner hit back before the break, but Gilmour sealed things for the visitors with his second try.

Gilmour broke the deadlock on seven minutes, punching through the Huddersfield defence after Eorl Crabtree had conceded a silly penalty.

Thorman slotted a two-pointer after 10 minutes before Shane Elford fielded a Thorman cross-kick and almost set up Jamahl Lolesi with a neat grubber.

Pryce scored Saints' second try two minutes later, taking a neat inside pass from Sean Long and finishing off a sweeping move after a smart break by Roby.

Pryce also set up the visitors' third on 20 minutes, slaloming through the Giants defence before Long put Ade Gardner in in the corner with a floated pass.

Shortly after, Ade's brother Mat Gardner took a dubious-looking pass from Kevin Brown and touched down in the corner to make it 6-14 before Thorman added the extras.

With Ashley Klein particularly hot on the obstruction rule, both sides struggled for fluency in the first half.

And Thorman dragged the Giants back to within four points with another penalty shortly before the break.

But it was St Helens who came out of the traps quickest after the restart, Gilmour, playing on with a broken nose, scoring his second after good hands by Jason Cayless and Roby.

Jon Wilkin was sin-binned for a late hit on Thorman on 56 minutes, and with the Giants stand-off concussed, he was lucky not to see red.

Huddersfield almost made the most of their numerical advantage, but the video referee adjudged that Crabtree had failed to squeeze the ball over the Saints goal-line.

Ryan Hudson, back after a two-year drugs ban, was also tackled just short before Wilkin returned to the fray.

Tempers boiled over with nine minutes remaining, Kevin Brown and Mike Bennett exchanging blows after a big hit on Crabtree.

But St Helens managed to hang on despite some spirited play in the dying stages by Huddersfield.

"The St Helens video referee decided he didn't actually make the line.

"I find it a little strange how you can't referee your home town team but you can make decisions during a game on your home town team. I think it puts him in a compromising position.

"We spoke to the league and to Stuart Cummings about it but he said it wasn't an issue."

"We were frustrated by a lack of momentum and the stop-start nature of the game. We were a little ugly in attack but super in defence.

"I was really happy with the level of intensity for round one in February and both sides need to be complimented on that.

"I thought we were the better team but Huddersfield were very good. It will be difficult to win here this year and I'm glad I've got it out of the way."

Huddersfield: Thorman, Gardner, Nero, Lolesi, Elford, Brown, Paul, Skandalis, Drew, Jackson, Jones, Wild, Crabtree.
Replacements: Raleigh, Griffin, Hudson, Snitch.

St Helens: Roby, Gardner, Gidley, Gilmour, Meli, Pryce, Long, Fozzard, Cunningham, Cayless, Bennett, Wilkin, Graham.
Replacements: Moore, Hooper, Hargreaves, Fa'asavalu.

Referee: A Klein (London)