A method of processing a data transmission received on HS-DSCH during HS-SCCH-less, HSL, operation, comprising: identifying (11, 16) a situation during HSL operation wherein redundancy version information corresponding to the received data transmission cannot be obtained from HS-SCCH, said redundancy version information indicative of an HSL redundancy version that specifies derate matching for the received data transmission; and in response to said identifying, applying derate matching to the received data transmission according to said specified HSL redundancy version; and further comprising applying post-derate matching ultimately producing a CRC check value, and evaluating that CRC check value to determine whether the decoding of the data transmission is successful; and in response to said identifying and evaluating that the decoding of the data transmission is not successful, applying derate matching to the received data transmission according to a first HSL redundancy version other than an HSL redundancy version that is specified by HSL for derate matching in said situation; and wherein said data transmission is a first or a second data retransmission during the HSL operation; and selecting said first HSL redundancy version and said specified HSL redundancy version from among a set of HSL redundancy versions, wherein said set of HSL redundancy versions includes all HSL redundancy versions except a second HSL redundancy version other than said specified HSL redundancy version, and wherein said second HSL redundancy version specifies rate matching that prioritizes puncturing of systematic bits before puncturing of parity bits. identifying (11, 16) a situation during HSL operation wherein redundancy version information corresponding to the received data transmission cannot be obtained from HS-SCCH, said redundancy version information indicative of an HSL redundancy version that specifies derate matching for the received data transmission; and in response to said identifying, applying derate matching to the received data transmission according to said specified HSL redundancy version; and further comprising applying post-derate matching ultimately producing a CRC check value, and evaluating that CRC check value to determine whether the decoding of the data transmission is successful; and in response to said identifying and evaluating that the decoding of the data transmission is not successful, applying derate matching to the received data transmission according to a first HSL redundancy version other than an HSL redundancy version that is specified by HSL for derate matching in said situation; and wherein said data transmission is a first or a second data retransmission during the HSL operation; and selecting said first HSL redundancy version and said specified HSL redundancy version from among a set of HSL redundancy versions, wherein said set of HSL redundancy versions includes all HSL redundancy versions except a second HSL redundancy version other than said specified HSL redundancy version, and wherein said second HSL redundancy version specifies rate matching that prioritizes puncturing of systematic bits before puncturing of parity bits.