Jake will improve as season unfolds: Rick
Jake here originally,” said Stone, who saw the Giants score tries through Danny Brough and Oliver Roberts.
“But he hasn’t had a lot of training and his first three weeks haven’t been great.
“He’s dropped one and let in a try just before half-time, so he hasn’t had the greatest night.
“As the weather turns a bit and he gets more of an understanding of his role, I’m sure he’ll improve.”
On the return of England winger Jermaine McGillvary, he added: “There wasn’t a lot doing for Jermaine and Saints handled him pretty well.
“It was his first game since the World Cup final, so it was a big ask to expect him to hit the ground running and be as good as he was in 2017.
“I’m happy to see Jerry play and come through unscathed.
“He had a significant step in the right direction and I’m sure he’ll get better after that run.”
Coach Justin Holbrook expressed his pride in St Helens’ defensive effort after they made it three straight victories.
Saints were the pre-season favourites to win the Grand Final and they have underlined their title credentials in the opening month of the 2018 season.
After demolishing Castleford in their first game St Helens dug deep with 12 men to defeat Catalans Dragons and picked up where they left off after the two-week break against the Giants.
“I’m really proud of the boys to get a win here,” he said.
“It’s a tough place to play. Huddersfield make tough footy.
“It felt like about 20 minutes they had the ball on our line in the first half. That’s why I say I’m really proud of the boys.
“We were poor with the ball and tried to force our hand a bit through the lack of possession we had.
“We decided we wanted to score points straight away and that made it hard for us. To defend the way we did in that first half and lead at halftime, I couldn’t have been happier after the lack of ball we had.
“You want your defence and attack to go well, but if your attack is off a bit you need to make sure you’re defending well.
“It was a good, tough game and one I’m really happy to win.”
The Giants are next in action at Wakefield on Friday. KRISNAN INU scored two tries as Widnes took advantage of Leeds’ injury woes to inflict more misery on the Rhinos at Halton Stadium.
Brian McDermott’s side had lost on their previous three visits and they arrived yesterday without 12 first team players following their trip Down Under for the World Club Challenge.
The depleted Rhinos produced a gutsy performance but Widnes eventually wore them down to earn their second win of the Super League season with a 23-6 success.
Joe Mellor put Widnes in front but Brad Dwyer darted over for his first try for Leeds to give the visitors a 6-4 half-time lead.
Kallum Watkins added the extras to nudge the champions ahead at half-time and they had a man advantage after Hep Cahill was sin-binned two minutes after the restart following a scuffle.
Inu went over and added two goals before Danny Craven’s one-pointer ended the Rhinos’ resistance.
Young hooker Danny Walker crossed and Inu scored his second to add gloss to the result and make it a weekend to forget for Super League’s globetrotters following defeats for Wigan and Hull on their returns from Australia.
Inu has now crossed the whitewash five times in four matches this season.
That puts him joint top of the early season top Super League try scorer charts, along with Wigan winger Liam Marshall. St Helens ........................... Wakefield .......................... Widnes ............................... Wigan ................................. Warrington ....................... Leeds .................................. Castleford ......................... Hull .................................... Salford ............................... Huddersfield ..................... Hull K R ............................. Catalans Dragons .............. Kells ................................................................. Normanton ................................................ Askam .............................................................. Hunslet Club Parkside ........................ Pilkington Recs ....................................... Whitehaven ................................................ Hemel Stags ................................................. North Wales ............................................... Bradford Bulls .......................................... Coventry Bears ....................................... Doncaster ................................................... Hunslet ......................................................... Oldham ......................................................... British Army ............................................... Batley Boys ................................................. York City Knights .................................. Workington Town ................................. Millom .......................................................... London Skolars ..................................... Newcastle Thunder ............................ Keighley Cougars ................................. West Wales .................................................. Distington .................................................. Myton Warriors ........................................ Oulton Raiders .......................................... Featherstone Lions ................................