Dragons fire to stun Saints

Catalans Dragons caused an upset with a 24-12 victory at St Helens to clinch the last remaining berth in the Super League play-offs.

The French club recorded their first ever success at the GPW Recruitment Stadium to make sure they would finish the regular season in eighth place.

The result was even more surprising consdering Les Catalans had been beaten at home by Wakefield just six days earlier.

However tries from Dimitri Pelo, Casey McGuire, Olivier Elima and Clint Greenshields secured a famous result over a lethargic Saints side.

Underdogs

Despite finding themselves sitting in the final play-off position heading into the final week, the Dragons were underdogs to end the night there with the fixture computer not being kind to them.

Even without internationals Paul Wellens and James Graham, St Helens still fielded a strong line-up knowing that they could claim the League Leaders' Shield if they were to win and rivals Leeds slipped up at Salford.

Instead the hosts never got going, Mick Potter seeing his team suffer a fourth home defeat of the season against a side he left to take over at Saints.

The Dragons, without six starters themselves through injury, made a perfect start when winger Pelo accepted Jean-Phillipe Baile's pass to break the deadlock after just four minutes.

Although Saints took the lead with a converted try from Tony Puletua, it was the visitors who found themselves in front at half time.

Adam Mogg's short ball allowed McGuire to barge his way over, scrum-half Thomas Bosc adding the goal before slotting over a penalty early in the second half to make it 12-6.

Both sides had their chances to cross the line again, Saints going the closest when only an Ade Gardner knock-on denied them a certain try.

Elima effort

Les Catalans made sure they didn't make the same mistake on 57 minutes when Frenchman Elima barged his way over in the corner, Bosc booting over the extras from a tight angle.

Greenshields extended the Dragons' lead even further having seen Pelo denied just before by a superb last-ditch tackle from Chris Flannery.

The conversion made the score 24-6 with 13 minutes to play, and not even the usually never-say-die Saints could find a way to produce a sensational late comeback in the closing stages.

Leon Pryce, playing the 300th game of his career, did set up Keiron Cunningham but the hooker's effort was no more than a late consolation - this was a night for the French as the Dragons conquered on English soil.