Huddersfield Giants 40 Harlequins 4: McGillvary in at the double again to inch Giants towards play-offs

Winger McGillvary, 22, turned in a blistering solo effort down the right only three minutes into an error-strewn, lacklustre contest.

The Huddersfield-born player scored twice on his debut against Bradford last month and also notched a brace against Crusaders two weeks ago.

He doubled up against the Quins by catching a Danny Brough high-kick four minutes from time and then swivelling to get the touchdown.

McGillvary, who also had a loan spell at Batley earlier in the season, also saved a try at the other end on 27 minutes.

Kevin Brown had doubled Huddersfield's lead to 8-0 with a solo run just minutes before Luke Gale opened up the Giants' defence with a superb pass for the oncoming Andy Ellis.

The hooker seemed certain to score, but McGillvary made a brilliant last-ditch tackle.

But the first half was a forgettable stop-start affair spoiled by handling errors from both sides.

Quins finally got off the mark on half-time when a misplaced pass from Giants veteran Brad Drew was intercepted by Luke Dorn, who raced away for a solo touchdown.

Huddersfield responded with four tries in 11 minutes early in the second half to condemn second-bottom Quins to a seventh defeat in nine Super League games.

Brown put Simon Finnigan in for a try on 44 minutes, Michael Lawrence went over on 48 minutes, and Drew made up for his earlier error by putting Scott Grix in on 52 minutes.

Full-back Grix turned provider on 55 minutes to help David Hodgson score his 22nd Super League try of the season in the left corner. Hodgson has now scored 600 career points.

Injury-hit Quins, fielding a side featuring only one overseas player for the third consecutive week, rarely got a look-in during the second half as the Giants turned the screw.

Brough, who added four conversions, dived over for a try on his 250th career appearance on 63 minutes before McGillvary completed the scoring.

Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown hailed his side's defensive qualities, and felt the win all but secures a play-off place.

He said: "When you look at the teams below us, you have to think that we'll be there. And crucially, we've got some big players to come back from injury who'll put pressure on those who are in the side to keep playing well.

"In the first half, I thought we defended well. Their only score came from interception, but we couldn't build up any momentum, because we kept making errors. In the second half, though, I thought we made a few decent kicks and kept hold of the ball better."

He added of two-try hero Jermainee is improving all the time, and I also thought he came up with a lot of good defensive decisions today."

Harlequins coach Brian praised former club Huddersfield for the way they snuffed out the threat from his young homegrown team.

"We expected there to be a wave in the second half, and so it proved," he said. "Huddersfield were unfortunate to be only four points ahead at half-time.

Huddersfield Giants: Grix, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Lawrence, D. Hodgson, Brown, Brough, D. Griffin, Drew, Horne, Gilmour, Wild, Lunt. Substitutes: Crabtree, Finnigan, Faiumu, Patrick.

Harlequins RL: Jones-Bishop, O'Callaghan, Clubb, Purdham, Sharp, Orr, Gale, Ward, Ellis, Wilkes, Melling, Golden, Esders. Substitutes: Mills, Krasniqi, Bolger, Dorn.

Referee: J Child (Dewsbury).