Leeds Rhinos 8-16 Catalans Dragons: Brad Arthur's side's Super League second-place hopes hit as Dragons pull off upset win

Catalans Dragons all but ended Leeds Rhinos' hopes of securing a top two finish in Super League

Leeds all but blew their hopes of clinching second place in Betfred Super League after crashing to a shock 16-8 defeat to Catalans Dragons at Headingley.

A victory for the in-form Rhinos would have set up an effective winner-takes-all trip to Wigan in the final round of the regular season next Friday.

But instead Brad Arthur's men now face the real prospect of sliding behind both Leigh and St Helens in the final rankings after registering by far their worst result of the season when it mattered most.

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Shorn of influential half-back Jake Connor due to injury, Leeds were second best throughout and an opportunistic late try from Julian Bousquet confirmed the win for the beleaguered French side.

Joel Tomkins' men had long since given up any hope of reaching the post-season and despite claiming two wins from their last three - over strugglers Castleford and Salford - they arrived in Yorkshire with seemingly little hope of upsetting the formbook.

But after surviving an early scare when Mikolaj Oledzki was held up over the line, Catalans began to dominate, Bayley Sironen coming close after 12 minutes before Ugo Tison burrowed over for the opener from the play-the-ball.

Three kicks from Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet would take the French side's lead into double figures and it could have been worse if Lachlan Miller had not summoned a superb saving tackle to deny Sironen his side's second.

Leeds Rhinos had ample possession but could not finish off to turn it into points

Tommy Makinson was a fingertip away just after the interval and it was not until Romain Navarrete was sin-binned just after the hour mark that the Rhinos scented a shift in momentum.

Tison's saving tackle denied Kallum Watkins and Jack Sinfield jinked close before Ryan Hall finally put the hosts on the scoreboard 16 minutes from time with a trademark diving effort in the corner.

It was a tough and bruising encounter as Catalans showed real determination in defence

But after Morgan Gannon was denied on the line for a double movement, Catalans made the game safe when Luke Keary's attempted drop goal rebounded off the post and Bousquet pounced to slap down the rebound.

Aispuro-Bichet stretched Catalans' lead to 16-4 but - to their credit - Leeds kept pressing and Brodie Croft jinked over with three minutes remaining to give his side another glimmer of hope.

Lachie Miller misse a crucial conversion against Catalans as he rushed with the clock ticking down

But Miller rushed his subsequent conversion attempt, booting the simplest of efforts wide and with that went any slim hopes the Rhinos had of fashioning another converted try and nudging the game into golden-point extra-time.

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