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Catalans Dragons 18 Hull FC 6: Berrigan and Yeaman injuries add to Hull's troubles
OLIVIER ELIMA'S hat-trick saw Catalans Dragons stake their claim for a play-off place as the French side moved into the top eight of the engage Super League.
Kevin Walters's side, who last year finished third, continued their resurgence with a comfortable 18-6 victory, a result which all but condemns Hull to a second successive year without play-off rugby to look forward to.
Elima's hat-trick was a rare highlight of a match which never failed to get going at Beziers' Stade de la Mediterranee. With the sticky conditions and the pressure of knowing a defeat could end their respective play-off hopes, the game was blighted by a series of errors.
Belying the recent form which had seen them win just one of their last six matches, it was Hull who silenced the customary passionate French crowd early with an early score.
Gareth Raynor – taking Mark Calderwood's right wing berth – continued his own personal impressive form with his fifth try of the season.
Raynor had only to touch down in the corner after good work by Craig Hall, who despite being tackled by Jean Philippe Baile, somehow found an offload to gift Raynor a simple score.
Raynor's try should have been the precursor to Hull taking a stranglehold on the match as the visitors enjoyed the lion's share of both possession and territory.
Instead, Richard Agar's side wasted several opportunities to pull further ahead.
After weathering the early pressure of Hull the Dragons finally found their feet, helped in large part by the performance of Australian prop Jason Ryles. The former St George Illawarra Dragons star used his considerable frame to push the visitors back.
Try-saving tackles from stand-in full-back Richard Whiting and Hall would deny the Dragons an opening score, but ultimately it was their own failings in attack which left them scoreless heading into the break.
The Dragons finally began to put on a performance after the break and it did not take long before parity was restored on the scoreboard.
Mogg's clever kick through the Hull defensive line early in the tackle count caught everyone except Elima by surprise – and the second-row pounced to get a hand on the ball.
Going some way to making amends for so many missed chances in the first half, Elima's try settled the Dragons, who thanks to his support play on the shoulder of Jerome Guisset's break, soon found themselves six points to the good.
Hull's misery was compounded with injuries to hooker Shaun Berrigan and centre Kirk Yeaman, both of whom could be facing season-ending injuries.
"Shaun damaged his shoulder while Kirk has damaged his groin and it looks like we could lose both for the rest of the year," said Agar. "It sums up our season somewhat, but we wasted too many chances tonight and you can't win a game if you give up the ball so many times as we did."
Catalans Dragons: Greenshields, Stacul, Raguin, Baile, Pelo, Bird, Mogg, Ryles, McGuire, Guisset, Elima, Gossard, Fakir. Substitutes: Ferriol, Mounis, Carlaw, Casty.
Hull: Whiting, Briscoe, Hall, Yeaman, Raynor, Tansey, Berrigan, Dowes, Lee, Cordoba, Manu, Tickle, Radford. Substitutes: G. Horne, King, Houghton, Moa.
Referee: I Smith (Oldham)
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
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