Huddersfield Giants are finally off the mark.

After three failed attempts, the men in claret and gold have broken their Super League XX duck with victory over plucky Widnes Vikings.

It may not have been the prettiest performance in the world, with far too many careless errors still being made.

But the psychological boost this first 2015 should give head coach Paul Anderson’s men simply can’t be underestimated.

All being well, it will be the catalyst for great things to come and the stuttering start can soon become a forgotten memory.

The Giants were once again guilty of being slow out of the blocks.

Within seven minutes they had been forced to drop-put from under their posts and two minutes later they conceded the opening try in the softest of circumstances.

Scrum half Joe Mellor collected 40 metres out and brushed off several half-hearted tackles to race in for a try, which Danny Tickle converted, although there was some debate over whether it had actually gone between the posts.

Fortunately, the score acted as a Giants wake-up call, with the home side going on to dominate the rest of the half.

An 18th-minute Danny Brough break from deep was the signal for Huddersfield to step up a gear.

The skipper’s thrilling run was followed by an equally-impressive burst by the dangerous Jermaine McGillvary in the 25th minute, and that paved the initial way for the Giants’ leveller moments later.

Brough made it possible, with his kick-through rebounding off the Widnes defence and straight into the grateful arms of the busy Scott Grix to finish off under the posts.

Brough’s conversion made it all square at 6-6 at the break – and there was everything to play for.

The start of the second half couldn’t have gone much better, with the Giants taking the lead for the first time within five minutes of the restart.

And it was fitting that it was the impressive McGillvary who struck as he collected a long Brough pass to race in at the corner.

Brough was unable to add the conversion, but he more than made up for that miss on the hour by sprinting clear, breaking out of several Widnes clutches en-route and feeding the supporting Joe Wardle to finish off in the corner.

That made it 14-6, and was the least the Giants deserved for their third-quarter efforts.

In pictures: Huddersfield Giants 24-12 Widnes Vikings

But that only spurred the Vikings back into life, with Manase Manuokofoa diving over by the posts for a second converted score three minutes later.

Obviously, that set the alarm bells ringing, and loud enough for Wardle to do something about it for a second time, showing great strength to plough through a big pile of Vikings close to the lien to squeeze in at the corner.

But with Brough again failing to add the extras it was still a one-score game.

Yet almost inevitably, the stand-off wasted little time finding the perfect response to the miss by feeding big Eorl Crabtree to cash over in the 73rd minute for a converted score that proved so decisive.

The Giants are on their way!

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats hosted unbeaten reigning champions St Helens and went down narrowly 20-16.

A Paul Wellens try gave Saints the lead and Mark Percival kicked the goal, but Wakefield pulled level with a Matt Ashurst try and Craig Hall goal and went ahead just before half-time with a Reece Lyne try and Hall goal.

Saints hit back after the interval to race ahead with tries from Joe Greenwood and Jordan Turner and three Tom Makinson goals, but a Richard Owen try gave Wakefield late hope.

Castleford Tigers were 42-14 winners at home to Wigan Warriors.

The home side took the lead with a Justin Carney try before James Clare added a second and then Carney struck again– Luke Gale kicking two goals from the three attempts – but Josh Charnley replied with a touchdown for Wigan.

Luke Dorn then went over and Gale added another goal to put the Tigers 22-4 up at half-time.

In the second half further tries from Liam Finn, Oliver Holmes and Michael Shenton, plus four more goals for Gale saw the Tigers home, while Charnley and Matty Smith added tries for Wigan.

Former Great Britain centre Keith Senior has taken on a full-time role with Kingstone Press Championship club Sheffield Eagles.

Huddersfield-born Senior, 38, who began his career with the Eagles and was in the team that beat Wigan in the 1998 Challenge Cup final at Wembley, re-joined the club as assistant coach at the start of last season after a hugely-successful spell at Leeds Rhinos.

Leeds have announced the death of their former captain and Great Britain forward Mick Clark, who lost his battle with Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 78.

Clark made over 200 appearances for Leeds from 1963 to 1969 and was a member of their Challenge Cup-winning team in the famous “Watersplash” final at Wembley in 1968.

He also played for Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Salford and ended his career with a spell as player-coach at Keighley.