It is now sudden death for Giants, says Stone

Huddersfield broke their duck against top-flight opposition under Stone when they withheld a Leeds Rhinos fightback to win 22-14 in the Qualifiers yesterday.

It was an impressive response following the previous week’s humiliation at Leigh Centurions and means Huddersfield will travel to Hull KR on Saturday knowing a win would secure third spot on the table.

The losers will go on to put their Super League status on the line in the million pound game, probably against Salford Red Devils.

“It is a sudden death semi-final,” Stone said of next weekend’s match.

“We know the equation now. We are going to Hull KR and we are going to find out who’s going to play in the million pound game.

“It’s at their ground and it’s a bit earlier than usual at 12.30, so it will be a good test.”

Other than a head knock suffered by Sam Rapira, Huddersfield got through yesterday’s game with no major fitness concerns and Tom Symonds made a strong return from injury.

Stone said. “He was significant on that right-edge, he really stiffened us up.

“He helped organise a few things for us; that was good for us and our middle played a bit tougher and defended a bit stronger.

“The offloads got away from us a bit in the last 20, but I thought for the first 60 we controlled the game not too bad.

“Leeds chanced their arm a little bit late on and they got something out of it. We will have to look at the last 20 minutes and how we managed it.”

Leeds went into the game with their place in Super League next year already secured.

They lost four players to injury during the match and coach Brian McDermott said he was “proud” of the way they battled back after trailing 20-0 at the end of the third quarter.

He said: “Although we didn’t win today and that is tough, I know my team has got integrity and honesty and showed they can ride some tough moments.”