Suaia Matagi will be looking to make a big impact against St Helens on his Huddersfield Giants debut, but the whole squad are aiming to ruffle feathers by maintaining blistering form into the Super 8s.

That’s the message from head coach Simon Woolford as the Claret and Gold go hunting a fifth successive victory against the Super League leaders at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

Powerhouse prop Matagi is in line to make his first appearance in place of injured Michael Lawrence , with Ollie Roberts also returning to the pack for Aaron Murphy.

Fans are hoping the Giants can take advantage of the fact that Saints might still be reeling from their shock Ladbrokes Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Catalans Dragons, but Woolford says no-one can be distracted from the job in hand.

“They are at the top of the table for a reason – they have been a really good team all year,” said Woolford of St Helens, who have named an unchanged 19-man squad.

“I thought they were ambushed by Catalans, who went with a game plan, plenty of intent and enthusiasm.

“Catalans ambushed them and really got away from them, putting them off their game and, in the end, having a comfortable win.

“We will be preparing, however, for the St Helens who have 40-odd competition points, not the St Helens who got beaten last weekend.

“It doesn’t matter how good a team you are, you can have off days and, unfortunately for St Helens, that was the case in their big game in the Cup, but we are expecting them to bounce back.”

So does Woolford see the key being the forwards, an area where Catalans were successful against Saints and stopped them in their tracks around the ruck?

“Every week your forward pack needs to do a job on the opposition, and this week is no different,” answered Woolford, who has brought in Matagi, Jake Mamo and Kruise Leeming (replacing Lawrence, Murphy and Jake Wardle).

“Catalans have a big pack with a lot of intent and are right up there with the best in Super League in my opinion.

Lewis Tierney of Catalans Dragons scores their first try of the game during the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup Semi Final against St Helens

“They are big, strong and fast and you could tell from the first five minutes they were there to bash and bash through St Helens.

“They were able to do it consistently for 80 minutes and, at half time, St Helens had made 100 more tackles than Catalans, and that’s massive in 40 minutes of footy.

“They set up the win in that time and thoroughly deserved it.”

So can the Giants learn from that?

“We are preparing for them to bounce back (performance wise) because that’s what good teams do,” said Woolford.

“The short turn-around could be an issue for them because they had to do a lot of work defensively, so they won’t have had a lot of training this week.

“So we have to try and use that to our advantage and prepare well.

“We had a bit of a break early last week but then returned later in the week and had some really good sessions, also into this week.

“We have had a normal preparation, so there are no excuses for us.

“They are a good footy team, but we are playing well, we are playing with confidence and I am expecting our guys to play well.”