RICK Stone is looking forward to the increased options the imminent arrival of Australian utility back Jordan Rankin will give his rejuvenated Huddersfield side.

The Giants clinched a 24-16 victory over St Helens thanks to four tries to three but lost in-form full-back Jake Mamo and hooker Kruise Leeming to injury.

Stone, who took over the reins at the John Smith's Stadium last July, is pleased that Rankin's move from NRL club Wests Tigers is set to go through, with the 25-year-old just needing to obtain a work permit.

"I'd like to think it will be next week and we'll assess the situation (regarding what position he plays) when he comes," said Stone.

"He played on the wing all of last season but has the ability to play almost anywhere in the back line – he's played in the halves and he's played in the outside backs.

"Jake Mamo has a sore foot at the moment and will need an X-ray. Kruise Leeming (who was taken out high by a clumsy Mark Percival tackle) needs an X-ray on his jaw."

The Giants, who climbed above Wigan into seventh place in the Super League table, forged a 12-point first-half lead through tries from Leroy Cudjoe and Martyn Ridyard.

Luke Thompson and Percival hit back for Saints either side of half-time, with Kyle Amor adding a third score for the visitors just after the hour.

But former Bradford duo Adam O'Brien and Lee Gaskell notched further tries for the home side to seal their third successive victory.

Stone described the performance as "really satisfying" and "probably the toughest and most courageous" performance during his time at the club.

"Around half-time we were struggling a bit from the residual of last week and the heat (in the south of France) and we asked for them to physically and mentally recharge a little," he said.

"We had some adversity with Jake and Kruise coming off but we showed plenty of ticker. We have been in that situation plenty of times in the last eight to ten weeks and not got the job done, so to see it through is satisfying.

"The main theme of the night was to keep fighting and we did enough to hang on and win."

Saints boss Justin Holbrook, who had seen his side win three of his four previous games in charge, said: "We came to win. We had another great week training and have been playing well but things didn't go our way from the start, similar to last week (in the 26-10 win over Widnes).

"We did some dumb things and took some poor options to put ourselves under pressure. Last week we were good enough to get out of it but this week we couldn't.

"Basic errors are the thing that has been hurting us the most and we can't keep putting ourselves under that much pressure and expect to win games.

"But I don't want to take anything away from Huddersfield. They ran harder, tackled stronger and did everything better than us."