Thrilling but fruitless comeback proved turning point for Giants

It is a sign of the marked progress Giants have made under Nathan Brown that in 2007 the ailing West Yorkshire club were bottom of the table, having lost their opening five games.

They came close to ending that dismal run in France but ultimately, and due to the inventiveness of one of Super League’s finest players – Stacey Jones – that wretched form continued into a sixth match.

When the Kiwi legend kicked a trademark drop-goal on the stroke of half-time, few could have imagined it being so crucial to Catalans’ eventual success.

They had raced out of the blocks to hurt Jon Sharp’s confidence-drained side at the start of the first period and, despite leading just 13-12 at the break their dominance again showed, surging 23-12 ahead after just 52 minutes and seemingly powering towards an emphatic victory.

Such was the total game understanding of Jones, once voted the world’s best player and brought to France to inspire the fledging Super League club, the little scrum-half general realised this fixture could actually still go down to the wire.

Huddersfield duly proved him right; Stuart Jones and Stephen Wild scored late tries to bring the deficit back to just a solitary point and create a dramatic finish.

The weary hosts managed to hold on but they looked back thankfully on Stacey Jones’s intuition as demoralised Giants were left rooted to the foot of the table as the only side yet to pick up a single point.

However, their loss was symptomatic of their season to that point; Sharp’s side had lost to Bradford, Hull KR, St Helens, Leeds and Hull but three times they fell by just four points and never more than eight. The following week they stumbled at home to Salford in another narrow 18-16 reverse before finally securing a maiden victory, unleashing their frustration on Wakefield with a 56-12 rout to start a seven-match winning run which culminated with a first play-off place.

Darrell Griffin, Andy Raleigh, Eorl Crabtree, Keith Mason and Kevin Brown – utilised as a centre before his successful switch to stand-off – were five players featuring that night at Stade Gilbert Brutus who still wear the claret and gold.

Thomas Bosc remains in the Catalan team and he got them underway with a try which he converted and added the extras again when Lionel Teixido plunged over from close range.

But then came Giants’ rally through Chris Nero and a fine solo try from Ryan Hudson, Tom Hemmingway drawing level with his second kick.

Then Jones, left, stepped up and tries from Clint Greenshields and Adam Mogg appeared to put the Dragons in complete control until their opponents frightened them at the finish.