Giants slain by Dragons

Greenshields: Scored the first try

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Catalans Dragons moved to within 80 minutes of the Grand Final with a hard fought 16-6 victory over Huddersfield Giants at the Galpharm Stadium on Friday night.

After all the talk of Huddersfield's "wrestling tactics" in the build up to the game, it was not surprisingly a less than fluid contest but nevertheless one that was full of intrigue right up to the final minutes.

Clint Greenshields (20), Dimitri Pelo (63) and Olivier Elima (71) scored the decisive tries, though, with Thomas Bosc kicking two conversions as Les Catalans claimed their third straight away win and a place in the qualifying semi-finals.

After failing to score a try in a match for the first time last weekend, Luke Robinson's (35) brilliance did bring an end to the drought, but the home side were otherwise frustrated by a fearsome display of tackling from the Dragons.

Magic

The Giants were rocked by an early injury for the returning Jamahl Lolesi, which saw the New Zealand international knocked out cold attempting to tackle Elima. He came off the field conscious and was whisked off to hospital but, on the field, a scrappy, undisciplined period of play then ensued.

A total of 11 penalties in the first 19 minutes saw both sides receive final warnings from referee Steve Ganson but, where Huddersfield had failed to take advantage, the French team succeeded as Adam Mogg and Bosc worked the ball out wide for Greenshields to power his way over for the game's first score.

The Giants were finding it increasingly difficult to break the gain line in the period that followed, that is until an individual piece of magic from Robinson, who broke through two tacklers before sidestepping Greenshields to get his side level. Brett Hodgson converted and Huddersfield had a two-point lead.

Catalans responded immediately when Greenshields raced 60 metres to score after collecting Brett Hodgson's chip kick, but replays showed Julien Touxagas had restricted the full-back from chasing back to cover and so the try was chalked off to preserve Huddersfield's 6-4 advantage at half-time.

Flashpoint

The game continued in much the same fashion as the first half after the break until Jason Ryles was penalised for throwing a punch from the floor. Liam Fulton threw a much more meaningful punch back and was fortunate to escape punishment, but that incident sparked the game into life and prompted some full-blooded tackling from both sides.

That is, before Catalans made their first significant foray into opposition territory. A break from McGuire got the Dragons deep into the Huddersfield half and Pelo finished the move on the left flank with his superb dink kick and chase to touch the ball down. Bosc kicked the angled conversion and the Perpignan-based team had a deserved 10-6 lead.

Greenshields then started the move for the third with his break deep in his own half and Elima finished a fantastic piece of attacking rugby after fine offloads from the full-back, Bird and Bosc kept the ball alive. Bosc again converted to put the French 16-6 clear.

Huddersfield had no answer and so it is the Dragons that go forward to secure a tie against either Leeds Rhinos or St Helens in the last four of the competition.