Batley no match for Dragons

Catalans Dragons eased through to the semi-finals of the Carnegie Challenge Cup with a 74-12 triumph over Batley.

The French side ran in 13 tries to move within 80 minutes of a second trip to Wembley in the space of four years, having lost to St Helens back in 2007.

Oliver Elima and Jamal Fakir both crossed twice for the visitors at Mount Pleasant while Thomas Bosc kicked 11 goals in the rout.

The Bulldogs did touch down themselves through Jason Walton and Kris Lythe but struggled to cope with their opponents' pace and power.

Early drama

Underdogs Batley suffered the worst possible start when prop Sean Hesketh was sin-binned after just 50 seconds for a late tackle on Bosc.

It took eight minutes for the Dragons to make the breakthrough, though, David Ferriol's offload allowing Jerome Guisset to charge over from close range.

Steven Bell saw a try ruled out for offside before Fakir made an instant impression off the bench, the forward profiting from Lee Greenwood's spillage of a colossal Bosc bomb having been on the pitch for less than a minute.

Remi Casty took a clever short ball from Brent Sherwin to canter over under the posts and a fourth score came just shy of the half hour mark when Dane Carlaw fended off a couple of weak tackles to ground the ball over the line.

Frederic Vaccari dived over on the left in the 34th minute to further extend the lead before Batley finally got on the scoreboard just before the break.

Walton finally gave the majority of the 2,132 crowd something to cheer about when he took a well-timed pass from Paul Handforth and crashed over.

Gareth Moore added the conversion and was also on target with the extras after Lythe got on the end of Hesketh's grubber to score in the 49th minute.

However the Dragons - who have claimed just four points in Super League this year and are currently propping up the rest in the table - were in no mood to slow down the scoring in the second half.

Points spree

Elima cantered over for a 57th-minute try before combining with Carlaw to send Sebastien Raguin across the whitewash.

The Bulldogs barely had time to recover before they had conceded again, Bell gliding through a non-existent defensive line to cross beneath the uprights.

Ferriol got his name on the now lengthy scoresheet in the 66th minute as the points continued to flow right through until the final hooter.

Elima and Fakir both went over for a second time, while there were also further tries for Andrew Bentley and Tony Gigot.

Bosc converted all eight of his side's tries in the second-half as the French club advanced through to the final four, raising the possibility that they could claim a trophy in coach Kevin Walters' final season in charge.