Quins started brightly enough with Luke Gale opening the scoring with a good try created from effective passing and strong attacking possession but this positive performance was then dampened by both team dropping balls left and right.

Huddersfield may have to question their tackling techniques after a series of penalties were given against them for continuous high and dangerous tackles.

Disaster then struck for Quins early on with Chad Randall coming off after 20 minutes having taken a serious knock which kept him out of the rest of the game. Quins Brian McDermott said: “It made it very difficult. Not impossible but it made it very difficult.”

The Quins lead wasn’t to last as the Giants began their fight back and were rewarded with a try on the corner flag from Leroy Cudjoe which was followed by a difficult but successful conversion kick from Brett Hodgson.

The rest of the half saw both teams battle out for possession in the murky conditions before a slipped catch from Chris Melling under the high ball allowed David Hodgson through on the stroke of half time.

Despite picking up a knock in the final play of the first half, Danny Orr bravely came back on the field for the second, but was not fully fit.

The start of the second half was no better for Quins as possession continued to change sides from dropped balls and misjudged passes before they were punished again on the high ball, this time with Michael Lawrence collecting the ball to go over.

The game looked to be set in stone a few minutes later with Brett Hodgson converting a penalty kick to give Huddersfield a 20-6 lead.

Harlequins were not finished though and gave their chances, and fans, a huge boost with Melling making up for his mistakes earlier on; scoring two tries in the space of five minutes to bring the score to 20-16.

With the game all to play for the Giants then showed why they are third in the league by sealing the game with a try from Brett Hodgson making a darting run through the middle before scoring another try on the final whistle just for good measure.

In the end it was a below par performance from the Quins, made difficult by restricted selection on the replacements bench.

The team will know they have a lot work to do to maintain their playoff position, as McDermott knows:

“We had enough people on the field to beat Huddersfield and get a decent position, but we didn’t get it to work. I have a lot of respect for Huddersfield and how well they are travelling at the moment.

“Danny Orr a bang at the end of the first half and maybe should have been kept off the field for the second half. I can’t speak highly enough of his work rate and commitment.”

Att: 3,916