Blunt Huddersfield Giants only had themselves to blame for falling to defeat at Leigh last night.

A final scoreline of 30-0 may suggest the visitors were never in the contest.

But the truth of the matter is that if the Giants had made the most of the superior amount of territory and possession they had, then the final outcome could have been completely different.

While Rick Stone’s men worked themselves into promising positions time and again, it looked as if they hadn’t got a clue what to do.

Their attacking edge was non-existent.

With Leroy Cudjoe (knee), Lee Gaskell (heart scare), Jermaine McGillvary (quad) and Aaron Murphy (ankle) returning from injury and Ukuma Ta’ai back after serving a one-match ban, the Giants did look a lot stronger than against Hull a week ago.

But the fact they lacked any sort of clinical edge made life so much easier for their hosts.

Although Huddersfield enjoyed a fair amount of territory and possession inside their opponents’ 20, they failed to do anything with it.

Apart from Alex Mellor coming close to touching down a Ryan Brierley kick-though and Cudjoe being held up over the line inside the opening nine minutes, the Giants offered very little attacking threat.

In contrast, Leigh made the most of the limited chances that came their way.

On their first attack in the 12th minute they took the lead totally against the run of play when quick hands put Adam Higson over in the corner for a try converted by Ben Reynolds.

And then they doubled their advantage on another rare raid into the Giants’ 20 four minutes before the break when Jamie Acton powered over from close range for a second converted score to make it 12-0 at the interval.

A bloodied Leigh Centurions' Jamie Acton celebrates scoring his sides second try Betfred Super League XXII Leigh v Huddersfield 10/03/17 (Pic by John Rushworth)

Just like in the opening period, the Giants looked the likeliest at the start of the second, with Ta’ai just failing to hold on to a pass under considerable pressure on the Leigh tryline in the 46th minute.

To add to Huddersfield’s frustration, they then lost Oliver Roberts to a nasty facial injury in an incident which resulted in Reynolds being placed on report.

But they rallied well, with several strong charges at the Centurions line and Brierley so close to touching down a Brough grubber.

Great last-ditch defence was then required to deny a rampaging Shannon Wakeman before Brierley’s ‘tryscoring’ tip-on to McGillvary was adjudged forward.

The frustration then grew greater when the in-form Sebastine Ikahihifo and Acton were sin-binned for a brawl which was initially sparked by Eloi Pellisier putting his hands in the face of the Giants man.

Why the Frenchman wasn’t even spoken to was a mystery.

But Leigh weren’t going to argue, and on the hour mark they should have extended their lead but Reynolds missed a relatively straightforward penalty to keep it a two-score ball game.

And they certainly weren’t arguing in the 65th minute when Lee Gaskell waited in the hope Josh Drinkwater’s grubber would go dead and Danny Tickle ran through to get the vital touch, leaving the visitors to argue that the ball had hit the line and shouldn’t have stood.

Huddersfield Giants' Ryan Hinchcliffe in action Betfred Super League XXII Leigh v Huddersfield 10/03/17 (Pic by John Rushworth)

It did, and Reynolds banged of his third conversion to leave the Giants with far too much ground to make up.

A Drinkwater drop-goal attempt failed to find its mark, but the scoring resumed with four minutes remaining when Reynolds burst through a big gap to grab converted scored No4 and in the final 20 second charge over for a fifth six-pointer to rub extra salt into the Giants’ gaping wounds.

Leeds Rhinos got back to winning ways with a 46-10 home win over Catalans Dragons, while Hull FC’s home clash with St Helens proved a lot tighter with the hosts winning 22-14.

Huddersfield Giants Under 19s are in Senior Academy action against London Broncos at Lockwood Park tomorrow at 2pm. Admission prices are £3 for adult Giants season-ticket holders, £3.50 adults, £2 concession Giants season-ticket holders, £2.50 concessions and

Under 16s free, and the team is as follows:

Giants Under 19s: Tyllar Mellor, Alex Young, Oliver Jamieson, Jack Richardson, Innes Senior, Louis Senior, Will Ingleby, Jamie Greenwood, Jon Luke Kirby, Ethan Salm, Matty English, Lucas Hallas, Sam Hewitt, Ross Whitmore, Jack Flynn, Reece Boxall-Hunt, Connor Hampson, Billy Hayes, Alfie Copley.