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Struggling for positives |
A league double over the Catalans Dragons safely in the bag for the Crusaders who put in a performance worthy of the name here at a blustery Gilbert Brutus. Brian Noble's men can now focus on future challenges ahead in Neath as they look to continue their improvement on and off the field. For the Dragons, it was a disappointing performance as they looked to gain back to back wins for the first time this season.
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Sir Alex Ferguson is famous for having dished out the hairdryer treatment down the years, though none of those will compare to the tongue lashing that Catalans president Bernard Guasch handed down to the Dragons players after this performance. Locked in the changing rooms for well over fifteen minutes while the president raged, the Dragons players looked visibly shocked as they left the stadium.
Just before the break, things had looked so differently; a six-point lead and dominating the play, the Dragons were looking like posting another win to back up the win at St Helens last week and the home side looked to press home some early field position. On five minutes, Sébastien Raguin went close, video referee Stuart Cummings ruling that the ball had been grounded just short of the Crusaders line on the second tackle. Two plays later and the Crusaders were on the attack thanks to a Jarrod Sammut intercept from a Casey McGuire pass, with quick passing and a sublime one handed flick on by Rhys Hanbury, Weller Hauraki managed to step three would-be defenders to score the opening try. Clinton Schifcofske added the conversion to give the Crusaders an early six-point lead.
Catalans continued to press and looked to dominate the field position and used the wind to their advantage, however, lapses in concentration and taking eyes off the ball caused the home side to gift possession over to their opponents over and over again. Something that angered their coach, Kevin Walters. "We didn't deserve to win, we were terrible with the ball, had no respect for the game and couldn't complete our sets. I feel very embarrassed.
"It's tough to take anything positive out of a game like that, we did some good things, when they felt like it. We played for about twenty minutes and looked like a footy team but the rest of it was just stop-start and not very impressive."
The home side managed to level the scores after eighteen minutes when good work by Olivier Elima and Rémi Casty was rewarded by a neat kick to the in-goal area by Thomas Bosc and there to pounce and touch down the ball was Clint Greenshields, Bosc converting the try from just to the left of the posts.
The Dragons could have gone in front just minutes later when a neat move involving McGuire, Brent Sherwin, Casty and Bosc saw the skipper just kick the ball too far ahead for him to regather. The home side did post the next score when Greenshields managed to get over the line for his second two-try haul in successive weeks after Bosc played a smart run-around with Elima to put the full-back through a hole on the left hand side. Bosc again added the conversion to give the Dragons a six-point lead.
In the run up to half-time the Dragon again looked dominant forcing two goal-line drop-outs but it was the Crusaders who got the crucial score in the dying seconds of the half after yet another Dragons handling error. Hanbury and Sammut fed Jason Chan who managed to step and fend off Bosc to force his way over the try line just inside the right corner flag. Schifcofske added his touch-line conversion on the hooter to level the scores.
The visitors started the second half as they ended the first as Hanbury made his way into first receiver and stepped his way to the line, leaving Cyrille Gossard and Dane Carlaw in his wake. Schifcofske again added the conversion to give the Crusaders the edge. Noble's men went close again when Rocky Trimarchi stepped through the Catalans defence, but was just brought to ground by Carlaw.
Catalans replied with twelve minutes gone in the second half when a McGuire scoot from acting half managed to put Bosc into a hole, the skipper passed the ball out to Raguin who drew the cover and passed inside to the supporting Casty to go the remaining twenty metres to score to the left of the posts. Bosc again converted the try and the scores were level again.
On the hour the lead changed hands again when a weaving Sherwin run saw Casty taken out late and off the ball. Bosc elected to go for goal and kicked the penalty from in front of the posts. Ten minutes later and the Crusaders were level after a penalty was given when Tony Gigot played on after the referee had deemed he was held. Schifcofske coolly added the penalty.
The Dragons were back in front when Casty was again taken out off the ball in front of the posts. Bosc added his fifth goal of the night to give the home side the narrowest of leads going into the final seven minutes. However a short kick-off from Schifcofske was re-gathered by Vince Mellars and he gave the visitors the field position for Sammut to off load to Peter Lupton who showed great strength to reach out with three tacklers around him to score the decisive try. Schifcofske again added the conversion to seal a superb win for the side from Wales.
Afterwards, Brian Noble was pleased with the result. "We found a way to win tonight, whereas in previous weeks we have been left kicking ourselves in the foot. We've managed to cure that, but we still weren't quite as composed as we should have been but we got to the right ends of the field and we made it difficult for them. We were probably guilty of over-playing at times we were playing as if we were twenty or thirty points ahead which can be frustrating when you need to grind a win out."
Noble also praised his side's effort, despite not always playing with conditions. "The amazing thing about our win tonight was that we didn't use the wind in the second half. Catalans kicked really, really well in the first half and pinned us in our half and we had to defend for long stints and we did that well. Then we got the try just before half time and I told the boys at half-time that they were carrying the ball really well into the wind and I wasn't sure if they [Catalans] could do the same in the second half. As it happens they did manage to do that, they punctured us a few times, but we scrambled and we fought to get to the right end of the field but we could have made things a lot easier for ourselves by kicking a whole lot better.
"I'm very pleased, but I'm also pleased for the players also. Over the last few weeks, we haven't been far away, and it's important that we can get back into the winning enclosure again, because we don't want to fade away from this competition just yet."
Best on the night for the Dragons was Thomas Bosc. The Dragons skipper was at the hub of everything dangerous that the Catalans did and was faultless with the boot, earning him the sang-et-or.net man of the match award. Another two tries for Clint Greenshields earns him second place in the voting. Oh, how he was missed with that mid-season injury. The final point goes to Rémi Casty who continued an impressive run of form, capped by that sensational try where he backed up over forty metres before showing some previously unseen dancing skills to weave to the line.
MATCH FACTS
DRAGONS 22-26 CRUSADERS
| | DRAGONS | T | G | DG | | CRUSADERS | T | G | DG |
| 1 | Greenshields | 2 | | |
26 | Schifcofske | | 5 | |
| 2 | Bell | | | |
14 | Dyer | | | |
| 3 | Raguin | | | |
3 | Martin | | | |
| 18 | Carlaw | | | |
4 | Mellars | | | |
| 26 | Stacul | | | |
2 | Youngquest | | | |
| 7 | Bosc | | 5 | |
7 | Sammut | | | |
| 30 | Sherwin | | | |
27 | Hanbury | 1 | | |
| 24 | Casty | 1 | | |
10 | Bryant | | | |
| 9 | McGuire | | | |
9 | Withers | | | |
| 10 | Guisset | | | |
17 | Peek | | | |
| 11 | Elima | | | |
12 | Chan | 1 | | |
| 12 | Mounis | | | |
11 | Hauraki | 1 | | |
| 13 | Johnson | | | |
23 | Lupton | 1 | | |
| 17 | Gossard | | | |
13 | Trimarchi | | | |
| 22 | Fakir | | | |
15 | Lee | | | |
| 27 | Simon | | | |
16 | Winterstein | | | |
| 25 | Gigot | | | |
19 | James | | | |
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