Huddersfield Giants boss Ian Watson pleased with early resilience but without key man for next test

It was a win built on solid defence rather than sparkling attack as the Giants did not enjoy the kind of possession that Leigh did in dangerous areas but they took the few chances they had.

First-half tries from Adam Milner and Esan Marsters, both converted by Oliver Russell, gave Huddersfield the impetus and they finished the job with a try from Elliot Wallis with 14 minutes remaining.

All Leigh could muster was a try in each half – wingers Josh Charnley and Tom Briscoe going over.

Watson said: “It’s a good start for us. I thought it was a gritty performance showing great defence. They played as a team. We have spoken about being more hungry and wanting to work hard for each other.

“I thought the work the forwards did was outstanding and we stood up to the test. We didn’t get up Leigh’s end of the field that much but when we did we were clinical. The test now is to keep improving week on week.”

Leigh beat Huddersfield home and away last season so Watson was justifiably happy with the result.

He added: “The biggest thing was that we came here and showed we are a tight unit and want to help each other. Leigh are a good team with players who can really challenge you. With ball in hand we made too many errors but the boys kept turning up for each other.”

However, it wasn’t all positives for Huddersfield – Watson said full-back Jake Connor is likely to miss out against St Helens next week after he failed a head injury assessment.

Playing in front of more than 8,500 fans, there was high expectation among the Leigh fans after they finished fifth last season and won the Challenge Cup for the first time in more than 50 years.

Australian Matt Moylan was making his competitive debut and forward Owen Trout was named on the bench against his former club.

But it was a night to forget for the Leopards who had John Asiata and Ricky Leutele sent to the sin bin and also lost star hooker Edwin Ipape early in the first half.

Lam said: “I am very disappointed. We have been really good in pre-season but we put ourselves under pressure through penalties and unforced errors. I thought Huddersfield kept it simple and did everything right so credit to them.

“It looks like Edwin Ipape has popped a ligament so we need to have that checked out. The first six rounds are sometimes a poke in the dark. We do our best to get through it but we made so many errors and conceded penalties.

“It was a rough start for us and unfortunately we don’t play next week. It’s St Helens next away so there’s no better place to put things right. I thought we had some bad luck.”