Huddersfield Giants confident for ‘sudden-death’ clash with Hull KR
Sunday 18 September 2016 18:52, UK
Huddersfield coach Rick Stone is hoping his side can take confidence from their 22-14 win over Leeds into next Saturday's crunch clash with Hull KR.
The Giants bounced back from their horror show at Leigh with one of their best performances of the season to end the Rhinos' eight-match winning run and give themselves hope of avoiding the Million-Pound Game.
The losers at the KC Lightstream Stadium next Saturday will have home advantage against Salford or London Broncos in the one-off game on October 1 between the teams finishing fourth and fifth in the Super 8s Qualifiers to determine the 12th and final spot in Super League for 2017.
"It's been in our hands for a while but we've not managed to get it sorted," Stone said.
"Obviously we know the equation now. It's like a sudden-death semi-final, although the winners won't go on.
"It will be interesting and a good challenge. We've got to win one of our next two games and I'd like to see us get it done next week so we can move on to next year.
"The boys have been put through the ringer this year but it's good to get some confidence out of playing a team like Leeds today."
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Huddersfield never looked back after England centre Leroy Cudjoe gave them a 10th-minute lead with his seventh try in four matches.
Veteran stand-off Danny Brough kept the scoreboard ticking over with two penalties, scored his side's third try five minutes into the second half to make it 20-0 and kicked a third penalty eight minutes from the end to halt the Rhinos' fightback.
"It was a good performance," Stone said. "It was good to get what we needed.
"The effort was great, which was really pleasing after last week when we were embarrassed.
"Leeds probably played a few blokes banged up but we scrambled pretty hard and managed the game pretty well for most of it. We will probably need to have a look at the last 20 minutes."
