Hull FC 6-37 Catalans: Dragons run in six tries in thumping away win
Last Updated: 03/05/19 10:28pm
Catalans outscored Hull by six tries to one as the French side won 37-6 in the Betfred Super League at the KCOM Stadium.
The visitors scored tries through Fouad Yaha, Tony Gigot, Brayden Wiliame, Arthur Romano, Matt Whitley and Samisoni Langi and there were 12 points from the boot of Sam Tomkins. Gigot also kicked a late drop goal.
Injury-hit Hull, without the influential Marc Sneyd and Albert Kelly and missing 17 players in all, had little to show for their efforts as their points came from a Mickey Paea try and a Jake Connor conversion early in the first half as they briefly took the lead.
Connor missed the chance to show what he could do in the absence of Sneyd as his display was typical of an error-strewn performance by the home side which also saw the stand-in scrum-half shown a yellow card towards the end of the first half.
Hull were punished for too many mistakes and more than a little indiscipline as they were well beaten by the French side.
Scott Taylor's break down the middle and pass set up Connor to kick but debutant winger Kieran Buchanan was held up short after claiming the ball and spinning out of two tackles as the home side started well.
The visitors went ahead after 10 minutes when Tomkins kicked a penalty given for a high tackle on Remi Casty.
Connor's flat pass gave Hull the chance to get back into the game and Paea took it, bursting through the Catalans defence to touch down with 14 minutes gone. Connor kicked the conversion to put the home side 6-2 ahead.
Winger Yaha slid in at the corner to level the scores and Tomkins put his side in front with a successful conversion with 22 minutes on the clock.
Catalans added their second try just minutes later when Gigot won a foot race to a grubber kick by Wiliame.
Provider then became try scorer as Wiliame raced around the outside of the home defence and slid in at the corner for his side's third try in under 10 minutes, with Tomkins' kick putting the visitors 18-6 in front.
Connor was sent to the sin bin with five minutes of the half to go after he questioned the referee's decision to penalise him for a high tackle.
With Connor off the field Josh Griffin was wide with a long-range penalty as the hooter sounded to leave his side 18-6 behind at the break.
Romano gave Catalans the perfect start to the second half as he dived in at the right corner after Connor Wynne's knock-on at a high kick gave possession back to the visitors, with Tomkins adding the extras to stretch his side 24-6 ahead.
Whitley went over in the opposite corner for Catalans' fifth try as Hull's defence looked stretched once more and another successful kick from Tomkins took the lead out to 30-6 with half an hour remaining.
Romano failed to hold Connor's high ball but Hull were unable to make use of regaining possession as another pass went to ground for the faltering home side.
Gigot kicked a drop goal with six minutes to go and, as the clock ran down, Hull looked even more bereft of ideas on a bad night for the home side.
To add insult to injury Catalans grabbed a sixth try just before the hooter when Romano flicked the ball up off the floor and Langi outran the cover to touch down.
A sixth successful kick from Tomkins completed the scoring to give the visitors a 37-6 victory.
