Rhinos hit back from 12-0 down early in the second half of a game which saw them miss a host of chances.

"Our execution was out quite a bit," McClennan said.

"I can't remember how many times it looked like we were going to score, but we couldn't quite get there.

"It would have been easy for people involved with Leeds to think that this wasn't going to be one of our days.

"It had that written all over it and that's what makes the way we came back even more appealing.

"It takes a lot of courage to keep persisting and persisting and the players did that.

"I thought it was a really brave victory by the boys."

McClennan added: "Being down by 12 and coming back, it's a real test of character and it's nice to have those wins.

"We hung in there and you have to do that sometimes.

"We were creating chances, we just weren't finishing them.

"We'll work on that, because we've got Harlequins coming up this weekend and they were very impressive against Hull KR on Friday.

"But we know if we take care of ourselves and we go there and play to the best of our ability, we will be a very difficult side to play against."

The coach predicted a bright future for teenage three-quarter Kallum Watkins.

He grabbed two of Rhinos' three tries after stepping in for leading scorer Ryan Hall, who was away on England duty.

"He's a fine young man," said McClennan. "If he keeps training hard and listening to the coaching staff and trying to improve, we believe he can become a very good rugby league player.

"When he scored his interception try at the end, it was a sense of relief.

"That took the pressure off because they were attacking our line and we were only up by two.

"Kallum did some good dummy-half runs as well. He probably could have done more, both wingers could, because it was a hot day out there and very tiring."

McClennan gave a vote of confidence to opposite winger Scott Donald.

"He had a bad day out there," he said. "He's probably not playing as well as he was last year, but if you're a good player – or a good team – you will get there in the end.

"It's just a matter of working hard and working on improving. Scotty will do that."

Rhinos' medical staff were today checking on back-rower Carl Ablett, who couldn't play on after damaging a shoulder in the first half.

McClennan said Danny McGuire should be available for Saturday's game, despite an elbow injury suffered playing for England against France in Paris two days ago.

Jamie Peacock also missed yesterday's match due to international duty and McClennan said: "Ryan, Danny and JP represented their country very well.

"You'd miss any one of those three, but it hasn't affected us. It was the same for Huddersfield, they were without Scott Moore and Eorl Crabtree."

Giants coach Nathan Brown said: "There were a lot of ifs and buts, but at the end of the day Leeds found a way to win and we found a way to lose.

"It's a bit disappointing, but the pleasing thing is that at least the players thought they had a chance.

"When we first played Leeds I don't think they thought that.

"It shows we're definitely making some progress."

****

RHINOS reserves drew 40-40 with Huddersfield, after leading 28-16 at half-time.

Ben Jones-Bishop, Tom Bush, Luke Ambler, Chris Clarkson, Liam Brown, Dane Manning and Danny Bravo got the tries and Gareth Moore kicked six goals.