Giants ready for tough Catalan test

Huddersfield head coach Rick Stone believes the Giants will need to be at their best to collect two points in France on Saturday.

Stone’s side face a Catalan team with just one win their last eight games and a victory this weekend will see the Giants leapfrog their opponents into the top eight.

Huddersfield defeated Catalan at Magic Weekend, but Stone says the Dragons will be a tough proposition on their home turf.

“You only need to go back to their tough win against Hull a few weeks ago and it shows how they are hard to beat there,” Stone told the club’s official website.

“We can’t be too confident, but we’ve got to try and put back-to-back performances together.

“After the way we played last week then I think we can get better. I think people might have thought that performance was out of the blue but we had all our attacking pieces in place.

“Jordan Turner put in a classy eighty minutes last time out. His carries were strong and defence was okay and when he had a chance he did well. I’m hoping he can get a bit more involved this week now.

“Danny Brough was back, (Lee) Gaskell at six, (Jake) Mamo at full-back, the kicking was tidy and we have some really skilful players out there who can ask plenty of questions to any opposition.

“If they can build on what they did then we have a good chance.”

Turner’s introduction into the team saw Aaron Murphy moved out onto the wing for last week’s 44-4 victory over Warrington, but the 28-year-old (above) said he was happy to accommodate the new arrival.

“I have no preference whatsoever where I play – I’m happy to be playing wherever is good for the team to climb up the table,” said Murphy.

“Turner is a great player, wherever he plays, and hopefully we can keep getting better and better with the partnership. It’ll be good for us as we got into the back end of the season.

“In the last four or five weeks we’ve put in some great performances yet not always got the result. We can’t look too far ahead, but we know we have a chance to put ourselves in a good position.”