Dragons destroyed by Gale

Luke Gale scored all of Harlequins' points as they defeated Catalans Dragons 11-4 on the opening day of Millennium Magic in Cardiff.

The half-back grabbed two tries inside the opening five minutes to give new coach Rob Powell the perfect start to life in the top job.

Gale landed one of his two conversion attempts before adding a drop goal in the second half to put Quins well clear with under 20 minutes to play.

The Dragons threatened to come roaring back but Damien Blanch's debut try in the right corner proved to be no more than a late consolation.

Disappointing

The defeat means a disappointing beginning to life with Les Catalans for Trent Robinson, the Australian who was handed the reins at the Perpignan club following the departure of compatriot Kevin Walters.

Instead it was Powell - who at 30 is the youngest head coach in Super League - who won the battle of the new bosses in the Welsh capital.

He tasted success thanks to Quins racing out of the blocks on the opening day of the new season, starting with a try after just three minutes.

Gale was on hand to accept Chris Bailey's pass back on the inside and despite support from Luke Dorn, the former Leeds academy player opted to dummy his way past full-back Clint Greenshields to score next to the posts.

Somehow he missed the straightforward conversion, though he only had to wait another two minutes to have another go at the uprights.

Dorn soared above opposite number Greenshields to claim a booming up-and-under and then offloaded while on the floor to the supporting Gale.

Given an immediate chance to redeem his earlier miss, Gale easily added the extras to put the capital club in complete command.

They would have had a third try through Chris Melling on the left had David Howell not been pulled up for obstruction in the build-up, although by that stage the game had gone a little flat following an injury to Setaimata Sa.

The centre needed treatment on the field, with play being held up for around 10 minutes, after colliding with the onrushing Oliver Wilkes.

Fired up

Gale missed a penalty attempt on the stroke of half time and the Dragons, perhaps fired up by some words from Robinson, came out a much more determined outfit in the second period.

Yet for all their attempts to try and find a way through they were lacking spark in the half-back areas without the injured Thomas Bosc.

A one-pointer from Gale just after the hour mark left Catalans with an even bigger mountain to climb and the frustration seemed to boil over for Cyril Gossard, who was placed on report for a high shot.

Blanch did finally get them on the scoreboard when he accepted Ben Farrar's flicked pass out of a tackle to force his way in by the flag on the right.

The former Wakefield winger's score left Scott Dureau with too much to do with the extras and when his kick sailed to the right, any slim hopes the Dragons had of mounting a dramatic comeback were over.