One 9 in Leeds Rhinos' player ratings from vital 34-6 win at Huddersfield Giants

Following on from last Saturday’s loss to Hull KR, it was another improvement from Leeds. They conceded only one try, from a kick, their line speed was good and they cut down the errors, though there was a flurry of mistakes with the ball in the second quarter.

Leeds were inspired by a fine performance from Rhyse Martin and Matt Frawley did well against his former club, though Giants were very poor. Rhinos started well, went off the boil in a poor-quality first half, but controlled the second period and played some good rugby after their fourth try made the game safe.

They went ahead inside two minutes. The kick-off was passed to Giants’ Chris Hill who was shoved in goal by Leeds’ enthusiastic chase. At the end of the set from the drop-out, Frawley kicked to the left and Ash Handley picked Aidan McGowan’s pocket, juggling before touching down.

The lead lasted less than 10 minutes as Rhinos conceded a soft try, which stemmed from Brodie Croft being caught in possession on the last on half-way. That was the third time Leeds had messed up a final-tackle option.

On Giants’ last, Jake Connor grubbered, Lachie Miller tried to kick the ball - rather than diving on it - and McGowan touched down the rebound off his own leg. The impressive James McDonnell had a touchdown ruled out by video official Liam Moore for a double-movement, which looked the right call, after referee Marcus Griffiths indicated a try.

The official got it wrong again on the half hour when he thought Elliot Wallis had scored spectacularly at the corner, but terrific defence by Alfie Edgell, Paul Momirovski and McDonnell forced the ball loose. Leeds made the most of that escape with back-to-back tries to take an 18-6 lead into the interval.

Frawley’s kick was spilled under no pressure by Connor, who then slipped trying to get to the ball and an alert Harry Newman picked up. In the next set Frawley supplied Martin and he slipped out a sublime offload to Miller who put Frawley over. Earlier in the set Sam Lisone seemed to catch Oliver Russell with an elbow and the incident was belatedly put on report after several replays on the big screen.

Cameron Smith and Wallis were held up over the line at either end in the second half, the latter being superb defence by Miller and Croft. The game was still in the balance until Handley dived over for his second on the hour. Again, Moore overturned the initial decision of no-try.

Croft was out of sorts for much of the contest, but found his feet late on. He was involved in that try, scored a brilliant solo touchdown on 67 and provided the final pass for Miller to wrap things up with five left. Martin converted five of the six tries, Jake Connor improving Giants’.

It ended 12-a-side with Lisone and Adam Milner sin-binned following a skirmish after Miller’s score. Rhinos received just one penalty, in the second half. Giants were awarded three in each period, but Leeds had two set restarts to Giants’ one.

Huddersfield Giants: Connor, Wallis, Halsall, Naiqama, McGowan, Lolohea, Clune, Hill, Milner, English, Jake Bibby, Cudjoe, Rushton. Subs Golding, Russell, Salabrio, Rogers.

Leeds Rhinos: Miller, Edgell, Newman, Momirovski, Handley, Croft, Frawley, Oledzki, Ackers, Eseh, McDonnell, Martin, C Smith. Subs O’Connor, Bentley, Lisone, Donaldson.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths (Widnes). Attendance: 4,924.