Rhinos pass French exam

Leeds Rhinos survived a second-half wobble to claim a 34-24 victory over Catalans Dragons in Perpignan.

The Rhinos, without a win in their last four matches, opened a 26-12 lead at the break thanks to tries from Ali Lauitiiti, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Keith Senior, Danny McGuire and Brett Delaney.

The home side, who had scored tries of their own through Jerome Guisset and Dallas Johnson in the first half, roared back after the interval.

Aided by the sin-binning of Kyle Leuluai, converted tries from Julien Touxagas and Kane Bentley reduced the deficit to just four points entering the final 10 minutes.

But McGuire's second try in the 76th minute, converted by Kevin Sinfield, sealed the result for the relieved visitors.

Burrow benched

Leeds sprung a surprise by selecting Sinfield at scrum-half and relegating Rob Burrow on the bench.

Catalans were the first to make an impression, Guisset powering through Sinfield's challenge to get the ball down.

There was an element of fortune about the Rhinos' instant response, McGuire's bomb on the last tackle going unchallenged by the home side before taking a wicked bounce.

It was collected by Lauitiiti who fed Leuluai before taking the return pass to cross by the posts.

Sinfield's flat pass then sent Jones-Buchanan through to score and the Rhinos soon posted a third try in seven minutes, Brent Webb and Lauitiiti sending Senior powering to the corner.

From the restart Leeds conjured another flowing move with Senior eventually sending McGuire cantering to the posts to cap a glorious 70-metre passage of play.

The Dragons continued to be their own worst enemies, knocking on in midfield and, after Webb had been heavily involved, Burrow fed McGuire whose grubber kick sat up perfectly for Delaney to gather and touch down out wide.

The home side eventually hit back through a Johnson try and Thomas Bosc's goal trimmed their deficit to 14 points at the break.

Catalans were thrown another lifeline after the interval when Leuluai was sin-binned after a late challenge on Dimitri Pelo as he kicked to the posts on the last tackle.

Guisset and Tony Gigot were held up over the line but when the ball was moved wide, Pelo sent in Touxagas, Bosc adding the extras from out wide.

Error

Sinfield then committed an error on the last tackle, deciding to shepherd Bosc's grubber out of play but failing to see Bentley sneaking in on his blind side to touch down.

Bosc maintained his perfect kicking record to reduce the gap to four points before a touch of brilliance sealed the win for the visitors.

Sinfield made amends for his earlier mistake with a superb ball to McGuire, who evaded Steven Bell to cross for the Rhinos' sole try of the second half.