WATCH: Resilient Rhinos delight Furner as sloppy Giants punished

Rhinos have developed a habit of throwing away what should be a match-winning lead and their nervousness was obvious when Huddersfield cut the gap to 14 points in the second half.

But, unlike too many occasions earlier in the campaign, Leeds dug in, weathered the storm and held on for a precious 38-18 victory which lifted them off the foot of the table.

They are nowhere near out of the woods yet, but in their scintillating first-half effort Leeds looked like a team who should be eyeing the top-five rather than battling against the drop.

Huddersfield contributed to their own downfall with a dire opening 40 minutes, but were the better team for much of the second half, putting Rhinos under considerable pressure and scoring three tries.

But ultimately they left it too late and could not claw the game back, despite playing against 12 men for two 10-minute spells. Giants are just two points off the foot of the table and Monday’s visit of bottom club London Broncos has taken on new significance following yesterday’s result.

Though his side will need to string a run of victories together to provide proof they are coming out of their slump, coach Dave Furner felt Rhinos’ performance, and particularly the way they held on in the second half, was an indication they are making progress at last.

“It was a really good first half,” reflected Furner. “But it was more the resilience the squad’s shown in a situation where we had 12 men for 20 minutes, had a head knock [to Liam Sutcliffe] and lost Konrad Hurrell.

“The team not using that as an excuse and turning up for each other, we will take a lot out of that. I am not sure a month ago we would hold that game, to be honest, so [it was] a real good positive for the group.”

The loss of Hurrell, who has scored nine tries this season, was a huge setback.

He suffered a hamstring problem in the opening quarter and is expected to miss Monday’s derby at Wakefield Trinity. By that stage, after 18 minutes, Leeds already led 20-0, outstanding hooker Brad Dwyer setting up tries for Tui Lolohea and James Donaldson before touching down himself. Sutcliffe converted all three and added a penalty.

Tom Briscoe was sin-binned for tackling Darnell McIntosh – Giants’ best player – in the air, but the visitors could not make the extra man count and conceded further tries to Richie Myler, again created by Dwyer, and Briscoe before the interval.

Huddersfield could not play much worse and were a different side in the second period, once Akuila Uate had broken their duck from Matt Frawley’s pass on 45 minutes.

Adam O’Brien made a positive impact off the bench and went over from dummy-half and, after Lolohea had booted a penalty, McIntosh’s try, created by halves Frawley and Oliver Russell – who converted all three touchdowns – made it 32-18.

Another Giants score may have sparked a total Leeds collapse, but McIntosh dropped Frawley’s kick over the line and, after Peteru had been yellow-carded for a dangerous throw on Russell, Jake Wardle was pulled down just short by Matt Parcell.

The siege was eventually lifted when Ash Handley pounced on a lucky bounce, after McIntosh had flicked a pass on and raced 80 metres for the clinching try which Sutcliffe improved.

“It was disappointing,” admitted Huddersfield coach Simon Woolford.

“The warm-up was poor, Leeds came out like a team that wanted to win and we came out like a team that hoped we were going to win.

“You can’t do that against any team. We thought we prepared well, but for some reason some guys didn’t come to the races.

“Dwyer made us look silly in the first 20 minutes and their forwards just rolled through us.”

Of the second half, Woolford added: “If Darnell scores, we are down by eight points.

“It just goes to show if we had turned up with the right attitude and played in the first half the way we did in the second it would have been a different result,” he added.

Leeds Rhinos: Lolohea, T Briscoe, Watkins, Newman, Handley, L Sutcliffe, Myler, Albert, Dwyer, Peteru, Hurrell, Ferres, Donaldson. Substitutes: Jones-Buchanan, Singleton, Oledzki, Parcell.

Huddersfield Giants: McIntosh, McGillvary, Turner, Jake Wardle, Uate, Russell, Frawley, Ta’ai, Leeming, Matagi, Joe Wardle, Hewitt, Murphy. Substitutes: Clough. Lawrence. O’Brien, Ikahihifo.

Referee: R Hicks (Oldham).