Catalan Dragons 38 Leeds Rhinos 34: Injury-free Leeds able to take comfort

The Rhinos looked certain to be heading into next week’s Challenge Cup final on the back of a heavy defeat after trailing 18-0 and 32-12 but they fought back brilliantly and only just fell short.

McDermott said: “We had a couple of blokes with bumps and bruises out there so we were forced into making some positional changes like we did.

“We would have preferred to have played back home this week, so coming here was not ideal, but the positives are that we came through injury free and found a way of getting back into the contest which I was most pleased with because in the first half we weren’t in the contest.

“There are some simple factors of rugby league, one of which is that you have to run harder than the opposition most times to win a game and Catalans just ran a little bit too strong for us in the first half and we didn’t deal with them.

“Half-time was a big one for us, we had to change some things around and whether they came off or not is irrelevant.

“I just thought the players made a decision to get back into the contest and that is something we can hang our hat on.”

Catalan coach Trent Robinson was delighted to see his side return to winning ways with a hard-fought victory over Leeds.

The Dragons went into the match on the back of successive defeats to Huddersfield and Hull and having lost three of their last four in the Super League, but they were celebrating at full-time after holding off Leeds’s late comeback.

Robinson admitted it was not a perfect performance from his side, but was happy just to get the victory that keeps alive their hopes of a top-three finish.

He said: “Everybody wants to pick up those two points and it was important after two losses for the team to feel that win again.

“Some of the things in our defence were disappointing and we made some dumb choices but we saw some attack that we haven’t seen in nearly four weeks from us.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t stick with it for 80 minutes but that (the result) was pleasing. At this stage of the season it is about keeping the plays that you like and replacing the plays that you don’t.

“It was a tense time for us at the end, we got the scores and then they got the chance to come back at us again and again and again, even in the last few minutes.”

Robinson paid tribute to his forwards and also singled out Leeds stand-off Stevie Ward, 18, for huge praise. I thought Remi (Casty) and Greg (Mounis) had big games, I thought (Jamal) Fakir was coming back into a bit of form too, they all worked hard carrying the ball forward and I felt our ruck defence was good,” he said.

Regarding teenager Ward, Robinson added: “Stevie Ward is an awesome, awesome player.

“It’s great to see a young player coming through like that from Leeds and in our competition. It was impressive to see him shrugging off seasoned players like he did out there, he looks the goods.”

McDermott, like Robinson, also paid tribute to Ward, saying: “He probably tried to be a little bit too nice in the first half and play too much like a stand-off. He’s a runner and he decided to have a crack, he got a bit angry in the second half, got the ball and showed what he can do.”

Catalan Dragons: Greenshields, Blanch, Duport, Millard, Pala, Pryce, Dureau, Ferriol, Henderson, Casty, Sa, Anderson, Baitieri. Substitutes: Mounis, Raguin, Pelissier, Fakir.

Leeds Rhinos: Hardaker, Jones-Bishop, Watkins, Ablett, Hall, Ward, Sinfield, Leuluai, Lunt, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Delaney, Bailey. Substitutes: Kirke, Clarkson, Moore, Keinhorst.

Referee: James Child (England).