 In their last two home matches the Catalans Dragons have been the undoing of both St Helens and Wigan Warriors and tonight, in the early summer sunshine, they faced the challenge of Hull FC.
It was eighth against seventh with both sides currently on sixteen SuperLeague XX points. But with both sides having massively inferior points differences to the two sides two points above them, neither were realistically looking to finish the weekend higher than seventh.
One of these sides could, however, lift themselves three point clear of the desperately unwanted ninth spot.
It was the Airlie Birds who started the game well, in front of a good travelling contingency from the banks of the Humber. After playing most of the opening ten minutes in the Dragons half then were first over the try line when Joe Westerman broke down the middle and found Jordan Rankin in support to go under the sticks enabling Marc Sneyd to kick an easy conversion.
The visitors try stunned the home side into action.
On fifteen minutes a well-worked Catalans try saw them cover forty metres through a Remi Casty break before he found Thomas Bosc in support to scamper in. Dureau kicked the two to level the scores.
Despite FC kicking a penalty on twenty-eight after Dureau stole the ball in the tackle, the Dragons had a four point lead on thirty-four when Tony Gigot intercepted a stray Sneyd pass and went fifty metres to score under the sticks giving Dureau a simple conversion.
In a two minute spell Catalans gave themselves an 18-8 lead when Gregory Mounis went up under the sticks after Kirk Yeaman has conceded a penalty in his own twenty for a ball steal. Dureau made it three from three and the home support were more than happy with the first forty minutes display.
Hull got themselves right back in the game ten minutes into the second half when Mark Minichiello crashed over to ground despite the attention of three defenders. Sneyd slid the conversion just inside the right post and his side were back within four at 18-14.
After a battle of wills for the next twenty minutes it looked like Hull had got themselves back level, but after referring the decision to the video officials, the FC try was ruled out for an obstruction in the build-up.
The Dragons extended the lead to six points thanks to a Dureau penalty after a high tackle on the FC twenty.
Hull managed to get themselves try scoring opportunities over the last ten minutes but spilled balls and errant passes meant that they couldn't capitalise and Catalans ran the clock down to take the two points with a 20-14 win and push FC right back into the super/middle eights battle.
Dragons: Escare, Oldfield, Gigot (T), Pomeroy, Yaha, Bosc (T), Dureau (4G), Bosquet, Henderson, Casty, Taia, Whitehead, Baitieri. Subs: Anderson, Mounis (T), Pelissier, Garcia.
FC: Rankin (T), Talanoa, Sa, Yeaman, Michaels, Pryce, Sneyd (3G), Paea, Houghton, Watts, Ellis, Minichiello (T), Westerman. Subs: Paleaaesina, Green, Thompson, Whiting.
Referee: Ben Thaler
Attendance: |
