HUDDERSFIELD Giants just failed to secure a first League double over Leeds in 51 years with this 31-24 loss at the Galpharm.

But even in defeat there was enough to suggest all may not be lost for the Giants when the play-offs get under way this week.

Clearly, coach Nathan Brown’s men are going to have to play much better if they are to get anything from Friday’s qualifying semi-final at Warrington Wolves.

Yet if they are to continue to build on the vast majority of what they did against the in-form and mightily-impressive Rhinos – and get a fair crack of the whip from the match officials! – then the Giants’ season could remain very much alive for several more weeks to come.

Compared to the way they had been playing over the past six weeks, this was another step up, with the key combinations again looking far more comfortable now all the chief playmakers have returned from injury.

And who knows what the Giants could have done had they not made a relatively sluggish start against the Rhinos.

In the opening stages, it was all Leeds as the Giants failed to get into their stride.

Only tremendous goalline defence prevented the visitors from taking the lead inside the first two minutes after they had initially gained possession from their kick-off and then forced the Giants to defend back-to-back sets.

But with the Rhinos continuing to enjoy the lion’s share of possession on the back of a 4-0 penalty count, the Challenge Cup finalists eventually took the lead in the 17th minute when Zac Hardaker crashed over in the corner for Kevin Sinfield to add the touchline conversion.

And within two minutes they had struck again, with Brent Webb backing up some excellent midfield work from Ryan Bailey and Jamie Jones-Buchanan.

Sinfield again added the extras, and at 12-0 it was looking ominous for the hosts.

Fortunately, however, that second score acted as the perfect wake-up call as the Giants went on to dominate the rest of the half.

They struck for the first time after 23 minutes when, on the back of being awarded their first penalty, the ball was whipped to the right for Kevin Brown and Leroy Cudjoe to feed Michael Lawrence to finish strongly from 20m out.

Danny Brough slotted over the conversion from the touchline, and the balance of power had started to swing dramatically – a fact underlined just two minutes later as the Giants levelled the scores with a try of real quality.

Keeping the ball alive on the sixth tackle on the half-way line, Scott Grix’s long pass released Cudjoe who in turn fed Lee Gilmour to make extra ground before slipping the pass to the supporting Luke Robinson to step beyond the covering Ryan Hall to dive over.

And two minutes before the break, Robinson turned provider as he refused to take the tackle and waited for Larne Patrick to run onto the ball at break-neck speed and charge over for converted try No3 to make it 18-12 at the interval.

But within a minute of the restart, the lead was down to two in frustrating circumstances.