Dragons edge past Robins

Thomas Bosc: Crucial try for Dragons

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Catalan Dragons came back from 12-6 down to beat Hull KR at the Stade Gilbert Brutus and move up to third in the Stobart Super League table.

The home side took the lead in the 25th minute through Lopini Paea's touchdown, with Scott Dureau adding the extras, but Rovers stormed back into the contest with converted tries from Michael Dobson and Kris Welham before half-time in Perpignan.

The Dragons fightback began with a Damien Blanch try in the 57th minute, and a further try from Thomas Bosc and three goals from Scott Dureau sealed the recovery.

Both sides began the match in a lively manner, and looked to move the ball wide and play an expansive game with Leon Pryce, Dureau, Scott Murrell and Dobson all eager to get their hands on the ball early on.

Catalans often looked to get into the Hull KR 20 metres zone but lacked composure and execution, often knocking on before applying any sustained pressure.

That was until the 25th minute when a penalty for offside allowed the Dragons to have their first back-to-back sets on the Rovers line.

Pryce went close from the tap, Michael Simon was halted just metres from the line and it was the third tackle that found Dureau and his pass on to the charging Paea, who brushed away former Dragon Dobson to touch down to the right of the posts. Dureau added the conversion to give the Dragons a 6-0 lead.

Smart dummy

Rovers looked to hit back quickly and did so through Dobson with a smart dummy and dive for the line after superb build-up play from Graeme Horne after a poor pass from Daryl Millard gave the visitors field position. Dobson added the simple goal to level the scores.

With time running down to half-time Catalans looked to attack and a fifth tackle play saw Dureau kick to the corner for Blanch but the kick was intercepted by Welham, who raced the length of the field to outpace the Catalan cover defence and touch down in the left corner.

Dobson converted from five metres inside the touchline to give the visitors a six-point advantage at the interval.

After the break the Dragons clicked into gear, laying siege to the Rovers line, the Hull KR defence held firm until the 57th minute when Blanch scored a contentious effort to narrow the gap to two points with a strong suspicion of a knock-on in the lead-up to the try.

Dureau hit the post with the conversion attempt but the half-back did level the scores with 20 minutes remaining with a penalty from 20m after Rovers were caught offside.

Dureau further extended the lead in the 67th minute with another penalty for offside, with the Dragons attacking with increasing intent.

The Dragons consolidated the lead in the 75th minute with a smart play by Dureau and Gregory Mounis to set Bosc free to score to the left of the posts - Dureau added the conversion to give the hosts an unassailable eight-point lead.