Huddersfield 28 Leeds 34: Rhinos knock Giants out of play-offs

The 19-year-old three-quarter, pressed into service in the absence of three first-choice centres, was the star of tonight’s preliminary semi-final at the Galpharm Stadium, where fast-fading Huddersfield’s season came to an abrupt end.

There were times when the Giants still looked in shock from their 47-0 mauling by Warrington a week ago and, although they twice produced fightbacks to close the gap to six points, they finished the season with an eighth defeat in their last 10 matches.

Leeds, on the other hand, are on a roll with four straight wins since their Challenge Cup final defeat, a run that has seen them pile up 171 points.

Buoyed by a 31-24 win on the same ground in the last match of the regular season just a fortnight ago, they made the perfect start by racing into a 16-0 lead after 23 minutes.

Second rower Weller Hauraki bumped off two defenders to get right winger Ben Jones-Bishop over for the first try and two minutes later Hardaker finished off a superb break by full-back Brent Webb for his first touchdown.

Kevin Sinfield added one conversion to make it 10-0 and the Rhinos might have been out of sight had winger Ryan Hall and prop Kylie Leuluai not been recalled for forward passes.

It was no surprise when Leeds extended their lead, courtesy of a defensive howler by Huddersfield winger Jermaine McGillvary, whose failure to deal with Sinfield’s high kick presented Hardaker with a gift-wrapped second try.

McGillvary went some way to making amends with a blockbusting run out of defence but his frailty under the high ball may count against him when it comes to England selection for the Four Nations Series.

Huddersfield gave themselves hope five minutes before half-time when full-back Scott Grix jinked his way through a Leeds defence still regrouping following Danny Brough’s long-range break for a try, to which Brough added the goal.

And the gap was down to just six points three minutes into the second half when Jones-Bishop’s fumble 10 metres from his own line gave the Giants the perfect attacking position and Robinson made it count by putting back rower Dale Ferguson through a gap for a second Huddersfield try.

The home side ought to have drawn level when centre Leroy Cudjoe broke clean through the Leeds defence only for Brough to drop the final pass and Hardaker quickly made them pay.

His break set up a try for Webb on 52 minutes and three minutes later he scythed through a tiring defence to complete his hat-trick.

The Giants were falling off tackles by then and Danny McGuire was given the freedom to set up Webb for his second try, with Sinfield taking his goal tally to five from six attempts.

At 34-12, the game looked to be over but Huddersfield produced a late flourish that had the Rhinos hanging on nervously at the end.

Second rower David Fa’alogo twice demonstrated his strength to burst through for tries and Grix profited from a kind ricochet to claim his second, with Brough taking his goal tally to four, but time eventually beat the home side.