CATALANS DRAGONS​ 6 LEEDS RHINOS​​ 28
RICKY WILBY, Stade Gilbert Brutus, Saturday

BRODIE CROFT starred in Perpignan as he scored three tries and created another in an excellent Leeds performance.

In doing so he helped the Rhinos re-establish their four-point advantage at the top of the Super League table.

Remarkably, Leeds hadn’t scored a point in any of their past three visits to Catalans, but are a different force this season and were untroubled by temperatures of 30 degrees at kick-off with 75 percent humidity.

The only negative was the blank drawn by Maika Sivo, meaning Richard Horne’s Super League record of scoring a try in eleven straight games remains intact when Leeds’ prolific winger could have equalled it here.

Catalans gave a debut to new recruit Edenn Rogers-Smith, a mid-season signing from Carcassonne who had been cooling his heels following suspension after the French Super XIII Grand Final in Paris.

Leeds started the brighter, Danny Levi going close before a Jake Connor grubber kick to the in-goal area was missed by a chasing Leeds attacker and bounced kindly into the hands of Harry Newman who collected and touched down. Jake Connor, on his 300th career appearance, added the conversion.

Then an error by Lewis Dodd, following good defensive pressure from James McDonnell, led to Croft racing away from the Catalans defence to touch down in the left corner for a 19th-minute try. Connor missed the conversion to see the score remain 0-10.

Leeds continued to press throughout the remainder of the half, though desperate Dragons defence prevented Leeds from scoring further until Jarrod O’Connor latched onto a neat inside ball from Croft before drawing the fullback and offloading to the supporting Lachlan Miller. The Australian full-back touched down under the posts, allowing Connor a simple conversion to take the half-time score to 0-16.

A scrappy start to the second half saw tempers flare on both sides as the game became more physical and referee Liam Moore struggled to keep both sides in check – after only five minutes, both teams were given their final warning.

Miller turned provider 15 minutes into the second half as his flat pass found the charging Croft who dummied his way past Charlie Staines and touched down under the posts. Connor added the simple conversion.

With 13 minutes remaining Croft sealed his hat-trick. Jarrod O’Connor’s offload found the Warrington-bound halfback who ran on the angle and dummied his way through a Catalans defender to score down the left edge. Connor added his fourth conversion to take the score to 0-28.

As time ran down to full-time, Catalans had their first real look at the Leeds line, Toby Sexton making a half break through the lime only for Léo Darrélatour to lose control with the line wide open.

Leeds coughed up the ball on the resulting possession and as the hooter sounded Ugo Tison fought off three would-be defenders to spoil the Leeds copybook and score in the left corner, where Sexton added the conversion.

GAMESTAR: Brodie Croft scored a hat-trick of tries and created Lachlan Miller’s touchdown.

GAMEBREAKER: Miller’s try just before the break gave Leeds a 16-point lead and you visibly saw the Catalans heads drop.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Brodie Croft’s try was ‘très magnifique’ as he outpaced the Catalans chasers to extend the Rhinos’ lead midway through the first half.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts ​Brodie Croft (Leeds)
2 pts ​Lachie Miller (Leeds)
1 pt ​James McDonnell (Leeds)

MATCHFACTS

DRAGONS
1 Charlie Staines
3 Nick Cotric
21 Matthieu Laguerre
4 Solomona Faataape
28 Léo Darrélatour
6 Toby Sexton
7 Lewis Dodd
16 Josh Allen
19 Kruise Leeming
11 Franck Maria
31 Edenn Rogers-Smith (D)
20 Zac Lipowicz
10 Julian Bousquet
Subs (all used)
12 Ben Condon
17 Romain Navarrete
18 Harvey Wilson
26 Ugo Tison
18th man (not used)
27 Clément Martin
Also in 21-man squad
8 Tevita Satae
13 Ben Garcia
30 Alexis Lis

Tries: Tison (80)
Goals: Sexton 1/1

RHINOS
1 Lachlan Miller
2 Maika Sivo
4 Ash Handley
3 Harry Newman
22 Riley Lumb
6 Brodie Croft
7 Jake Connor
8 Mikolaj Oledzki
23 Danny Levi
15 Cooper Jenkins
14 Chris Hankinson
12 James McDonnell
11 Kallum Watkins
Subs (all used)
9 Jarrod O’Connor
10 Tom Holroyd
17 Cameron Smith
20 Presley Cassell
18th man (not used)
26 Tom Nicholson-Watton
Also in 21-man-squad
13 Keenan Palasia
21 Alfie Edgell
33 Jack Bird

Tries: Newman (9), Croft (19, 56, 67), Miller (36)
Goals: Connor 4/5

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-10, 0-16; 0-22, 0-28, 6-28

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Dragons: Lewis Dodd; Rhinos: Brodie Croft

Penalty count: 6-4
Half-time: 0-16
Referee: Liam Moore
Attendance: 7,867