Catalans Dragons 24-12 St Helens: Highlights, player ratings and talking points

Catalans Dragons scored 24 unanswered points as they came down from 12-0 to record a
big win over the World Champions and return to winning ways.

Highlights:

Catalans have chances early on but St Helens break the deadlock
It is always important to start well, and Catalans nearly got off to the perfect start. They
were camped in the St Helens 20 for much of the first 10 minutes and had plenty of chances
to score, but it would be the World Champions who would break the deadlock thanks to
Alex Walmsley.

Stellar defence from Makinson
A lovely flowing phase from the Dragons found Tom Davies in space, and everyone in the
stadium thought the Dragons would finally get their first of the night after plenty of
sustained pressure, however Tommy Makinson thought otherwise. The England
international covered plenty of ground to put in a terrific diving tackle to deny the Catalans
winger a certain try.

Jack Welsby adds the second
Konrad Hurrell, fresh off overcoming a knock to the head, darts across the pitch, draws in
two Dragons defenders and gets a beautiful offload to Jack Welsby who coasts in for the
Saints second try of the night with only their second attack.

Mourgue finally gets Catalans on the board
The fullback ran a great line off the inside shoulder of Sam Tomkins and carves through the
St Helens defence to score the Dragons first of the night.

Hurrell ill-discipline costs his side
Konrad Hurrell’s frustrations boiled over as the powerful centre was sent to the bin for
swearing, and Matt Ikuvalu rubbed salt into the wound for the Saints as he went over on his
debut to pull the Dragons level.

Tom Davies dives over
Silky hands from Ikuvalu find Tom Davies out wide and the winger dives over in dramatic
fashion to help Catalans pull away to an eight point lead.

Tomkins kick tightens Catalans grip
Sam Tomkins puts in a great cross field kick to connect to Tom Davies out wide and stamp
the Dragons authority on the game and add his second of the night.

Talking Points:

Roby equals record
James Roby cemented his place in the St Helens history books as he equalled Kel Coslett’s
record of 531 appearances for the red V.

Like a bull in a rugby stadium
We all love pre-game entertainment, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rampaging bull on the
pitch as the entertainment.

St Helens turn solid defence into points early on
Catalans dominated possession in the opening exchanges; however the Saints fronted up
and held them out on nearly every occasion, and came back even harder as they executed
on their first two attacks to race into a 12-0 lead.

Was it a yellow?
Right at the end of the first half Siua Taukeiaho puts in a huge tackle on Jack Welsby, which
the ref judged to be high and sent him to the bin.

Saints their own worst enemy in the second half
At the start of the game, St Helens were clinical in attack and solid in defence; however this
changed after the break. They became their own worst enemy in the second half, they tried
to force the ball and this backfired as they coughed up possession and allowed the Dragons
to get the upper hand in the game.

Catalans stop the slump
Ahead of the international break, the Dragons had lost their previous three games, but they
put in a much improved display to overcome the World Champions and return to winning
ways.

Player ratings:
Catalans Dragons
1 Arthur Mourgue-8
2 Tom Davies-7
3 Adam Keighran-8
21 Matt Ikuvalu-9
24 Tom Johnstone-7
7 Mitchell Pearce-7
29 Sam Tomkins-7
23 Jordan Dezaria-6
13 Benjamin Garcia-7
10 Julian Bousquet-6
11 Matt Whitley-7
12 Paul Seguier-6
8 Mike McMeekan-7
Interchanges:
16 Romain Navarrete-6
18 Tiaki Chan-N/A
22 Siua Taukeiaho-6
26 Manu Ma’u-6

St Helens
1 Jack Welsby-7
25 Tee Ritson-6
23 Konrad Hurrell-6
3 Will Hopoate-6
2 Tommy Makinson-7
6 Jonny Lomax-6
7 Lewis Dodd-6
8 Alex Walmsley-7
9 James Roby-6
10 Matty Lees-6
22 Sam Royle-6
12 James Batchelor-6
19 James Bell-7
Interchanges:
14 Joey Lussick-6
15 Louie McCarthey-Scarsbrook-6
18 Jake Wingfield-6
30 George Delany-6