Elima treble fires Dragons

Catalans victory over Hull restores play-off hopes for French side

Last updated: 15th August 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Elima treble fires Dragons

Elima: Hat-trick hero

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A hat-trick of tries from Olivier Elima saw Catalans Dragons come from behind to beat Hull 18-6 and continue their push for a play-off place.

The Dragons, who last year finished third, moved into the top eight of the Super League as they continued their resurgence - and almost certainly ending Hull's hopes of making the play-offs.

A scrappy game at the Stade de la Mediterranee in Beziers was riddled with errors throughout, but Elima produced the moments of quality.

Although they went into the game after winning just one of their last six, Hull took the lead with an early try from winger Gareth Raynor - his fifth of the season coming in the corner.

Wasted chances

Richard Agar's side then enjoyed the majority of possession but showed why they are struggling by wasting numerous chances.

Eventually Australian prop Jason Ryles got the Dragons moving, the former St George Illawarra Dragons star using his considerable frame to push the visitors onto the back foot.

And with Casey McGuire and Adam Mogg taking advantage of their side's growing dominance, the hosts soon found themselves camped in the Hull half.

Try-saving tackles from stand-in full-back Richard Whiting and Craig Hall denied the Dragons an opening score, but ultimately it was their own failings in attack which left them scoreless heading into the break.

Les Catalans finally began to put on a performance after the interval and it did not take long before parity was restored on the scoreboard.

Mogg's clever kick through the Hull defensive line early in the tackle count caught everyone except Elima by surprise - and the second-row pounced to get a hand on the ball before it ran dead.

Settled

Going some way to making amends for so many missed chances in the first half, the try settled Kevin Walters' side.

It was thanks to Elima's fine support play on the shoulder of Jerome Guisset's break that the home side found themselves six points to the good.

Hull struggled to get themselves back into the match as they failed to mount any serious pressure on a Catalans defence whose physicality was too much.

With no field position and precious little ball the Airlie Birds never looked a threat, and it was left to the hosts to complete the scoring as Elima barged his way over with the final play of the match.