Proud Catalan head coach Laurent Frayssinous is bracing his Dragons for a Giant backlash at the John Smith’s Stadium on Friday night.

The in-form French produced the shock of the play-offs by securing a last-minute 24-20 triumph at Leeds Rhinos to set up a preliminary semi-final trip to Huddersfield.

It was a victory Frayssinous described as the finest moment of his coaching career after guiding the Dragons to a first win at Headingley in 10 attempts.

But after the Giants’ 57-4 hammering at Wigan, the Catalan coach knows that makes Friday’s hosts a very dangerous animal.

“Although it was a magnificent night for us at Leeds, we will stay humble,” he said.

“We have never performed at Huddersfield so we know it’ll be a tough one again.

“They were embarrassed a few days ago after being hammered by Wigan, and we’re expecting a response from them.

“That will make it even tougher for us.

“But we know what we can do now, and that will give us confidence.”

“The other night we made history by becoming the first Catalan team to win at Leeds.

“In the context of the play-offs, against a team that has so much experience, to win that type of game, it is pretty special.

“We needed luck at the end when Tom Briscoe dropped the ball and Sam Williams picked it up to score, but the performance, especially defensively, has been awesome and the attitude of the boys was good.

“Sam controlled the team pretty good and I have to give a big rap to Ian Henderson, who played 80 minutes.

“His desire to win and willingness to help his team-mates stick to the game plan is the type of attitude we want to keep on having.”