Catalans Dragons 12 St. Helens 42 – Saturday 20th February 2010
I was unable to travel to Perpignan for this match, on Saturday evening, so I have gathered a match report from a mixture of players and fan’s comments and reports in the Media.
St. Helens secured their second successive Super League victory with an impressive 42 points to 12 defeat of Les Catalans. The home team started proceedings well and raced to an early 8 nil before Saints hit back to score 42 unanswered points to secure the win, with the home side collecting a late consolation try to make the final scoreline just a little more respectable. The Dragons, who have still to win this year and are now at the foot of the Super League table, were hampered by the 1st half dismissal of Olivier Elima following a high tackle on Saints’ young right win, Jonny Lomax.
The teams lined up as follows:
Catalans Dragons:
1. Clint Greenshields, 26. Cyril Stacul, 23. Chris Walker, 4. Setaimata Sa, 5. Dimitri Pelo, 6. Adam Mogg, 16. William Barthau, 8. David Ferriol, 9. Casey McGuire, 18. Dane Carlaw, 11. Olivier Elima, 17. Cyrille Gossard, 13. Dallas Johnson
Subs, 3. Sebastien Raguin, 12. Gregory Mounis, 22. Jamal Fakir, 24. Remi Casty
St. Helens:
1. Paul Wellens, 24 Jonny Lomax, 3. Matt Gidley, 21. Gary Wheeler, 5. Francis Meli, 6. Leon Pryce, 7. Kyle Eastmond, 8. Nick Fozzard, 16. Scott Moore, 10 James Graham, 11. Tony Puletua, 12. Jon Wilkin, 17. Paul Clough
Subs, 14. James Roby, 15. Bryn Hargreaves, 23. Maurie Fa’asavalu, 18. Matty Ashurst
Referee: Steve Ganson
The game began at a furious pace and James Graham was injured early on, looking like he was struggling with yet another blow to the sternum. He was able to continue and Saints were penalised for lying on. The Dragons made the most of this early platform and moved the ball down the field into the St. Helens’ quarter, following a powerful break by Elima. On the last tackle, a high kick towards Saints’ left wing saw Setaimata Sa out jump Gary Wheeler to touch down and the Dragons were ahead in only the second minute. William Barthau failed with his conversion attempt.
In Saints first meaningful attack, Kyle Eastmond’s chip kick was fielded by Clint Greenshields who immediately turned defence into attack. The full back showed his class by breaking the Saints’ defensive line through a poor Eastmond attempted tackle and taking the ball up as far as the half way line, he drew the remaining Saints’ cover before passing to Chris Walker who raced away to register Catalans’ second try in the left corner despite a late desperate attempted ankle tap by Jonny Lomax. The Dragons were 8 points up in just 9 minutes.
That was as good as it got for the home team. Saints slowly clawed the way back into the game and tested the Dragons’ defence. On 11 minutes, James Graham and opposing prop Dane Carlaw suffered a sickening accidental head clash in a thundering tackle that resulted in both players leaving the field and being unable to return for the remainder of the match. David Ferriol was penalised for passing the ball after Ganson had called ‘held’ even though the defence still seemed to be driving him back and towards the back end of the resultant possession Paul Wellens’ perfectly weighted clever cross-field kick saw right wing, Jonny Lomax cross in the corner, in acres of space, to open Saints’ account.
With the game delicately poised at 8-4 to the Dragons the pivotal moment of the match occurred. Saints were on the attack and moved the ball out to their right. Jonny Lomax collected the ball and looked like he was going to score as he stepped inside the sliding defence. Elima’s elbow / shoulder clattered into Jonny’s head and young Lomax was sent sprawling to the floor. Ganson immediately dismissed Elima and play was held up to give a very dazed looking Lomax time to recover. Lomax remained on the field but only for a further minute or so. In the resultant set of six, Saints worked the overlap on the right and Lomax collected a pass to score his second try in the corner under a further heavy challenge. Kyle added a magnificent conversion and Saints were ahead, as Lomax was led from the field, also unable to return.
Leon Pryce was now stamping his authority on the match as he was instrumental in moving the ball about at every opportunity bringing Matt Gidley and Gary Wheeler into play at every opportunity. On the half hour mark, it was Leon’s perfectly weighted chip kick to the left corner that saw Francis Meli collect and score Saints’ third try of the evening. Five minutes later, Matt Gidley effectively ended the match as a viable contest when he cut back inside to end a great Saints break with their fourth try; that was created by Tony Puletua and Paul Wellens, before Leon fed Gids. At the break, in front of a partisan crowd of 7,825, Saints led by 18 points to 8.
St. Helens began the second period as they had ended the first and looked like they were going for the kill. They were clinical. Wello was unlucky not to collect a clever Eastmond bomb but, following a great defensive set, the Dragons turned the ball over deep in their own 20 metre zone and Maurie Fa’asavalu scored a try by the posts after barging over the whitewash with three home defenders hanging on to him, hoping to halt his progress.
Matt Gidley was also immense on the night and it was his fine work, following an outrageous Pryce dummy and offload, that led to Kyle Eastmond outpacing Le Catalans’ defence from 30 metres out to score Saints’ sixth try; and only a minute later an outstanding handling move led to Meli scoring his second try. Eastmond’s three conversions saw St. Helens lead 36-8 after only 50 minutes and it looked like the flood gates were about to open.
The Dragons did well to restrict Saints to just one further try. Matt Gidley was the scorer, after supporting a fine break by Matty Ashurst, before a classic show and go saw him comfortably cross the homesters’ try line. Kyle’s 5th conversion of the night completed Saints’ scoring on the hour mark.
Catalans then showed some welcome resilience for the remainder of the game and they had the consolation of scoring the game’s final try in the 75th minute when Chris Walker collected his second try on the night, after a crisp handling move.
Overall Saints can take a lot of positives from this match Leon Pryce and Matt Gidley were outstanding but on the back of a great platform created by Saints’ pack. Perpignan had been a tough place for St. Helens in the past, but on this occasion they were worthy winners. The Dragons were without Thomas Bosc but Saints didn’t have Ade Gardner, Sia Soliola, Keiron Cunningham or Chris Flannery. They also had Olivier Elima dismissed and lost Dane Carlaw, but again it should be noted that with the injuries to James Graham and Jonny Lomax, Saints’ only had two interchange players to rotate.
St. Helens are now in 4th position in the League and are playing some great football. Next up is a visit by the unbeaten Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and they should arrive full of confidence and test Saints’ ability to its limit.
