Two sides who were on opposite ends of last weekend’s shock results came together for an intriguing round nineteen game as a Catalans Dragons side who lost to the Castleford Tigers faced a Hull FC side who sprang the surprise of the season in defeating champions elect, Wigan Warriors.
The big news was that Sam Tomkins was back out of retirement to alleviate the injury crisis in the south of France and provide a much-needed boost as the Dragons looked to secure a top six spot and a shot at the play offs.
The Dragons were firm favourites with the bookies and were handicapped by fourteen points on the coupon but in this round of shocks in Super League 2024, nothing could be taken for granted.
The perfect start for Tomkins and his Dragons came after just three minutes when Michael McIlorum took a Tomkins pass and rolled over the Hull line to ground. Arthur Mourgue added the conversion, the Airlie Birds already knowing that they were up against it. It already looked like it might be a long night at the office for the visitors.
On eight minutes Tariq Sims was sent off for a high tackle which he compounded by picking up the injured player. The Dragons excellent start was thrown into disarray as they faced seventy minutes in the heat with a man down.
On eleven, the Black and Whites opened their account, Tuimavave making the most of a Tomkins error as Hull moved the ball downfield, Ligi Sao eventually finding the try scorer to go in untouched. Jack Charles added the conversion to level the scores. The Dragons were struggling to adjust.
The referee was having a busy afternoon when on sixteen Sao hit Tomkins high and without mitigation he was shown the red card, both sides down to twelve for the rest of the game.
When Tomkins was hit late after putting in a kick, Mourgue kicked the penalty goal to put the Dragons into the lead.
On twenty-two Tomkins got his comeback try after taking the ball at first receiver, dropping the shoulder and stepping off his left foot to duck under the tacklers to score. Mourgue added the conversion, the Sao sending off really hurting the visitors.
Three minutes after the restart, Hull got the perfect tonic with Jack Walker picking up a deflected pass to scamper over from ten metres out. Charles hit the ball through the uprights to reduce the arrears to just two points.
On the back of two penalties a Julian Bousquet offload to Ben Garcia right under the sticks gave the Dragons substitute the simplest if groundings. Mourgue added a simple goal, and the lead was back at eight points.
The game was won on seventy as Tom Davies found space down the left side as he found enough of an overlap to avoid the FC defenders and stoop to score. Mourgue was unable to add the conversion, his first miss of the night, the lead of twelve points.
With just over three minutes remaining Lewis Martin jumped above the Catalans defence to take a high kick to the corner and drop over the line for the thinnest of lifelines for the Airlie Birds. Charles then extinguished that light as he failed to add the conversion. The margin still eight points and too much for Hull in the remaining time.
The Dragons jump to fourth in the table, ahead of Salford on points difference and two points clear of St Helens in sixth. More importantly they have a four-point buffer to the Leeds Rhinos in seventh so look favourites to get a shot at the Grand Final through the play-offs. It was a good show from Hull FC who defied the odds on a big Dragons win with a good showing and a much-improved performance picking up where they left off against the Warriors.
Catalans Dragons: Tomkins (T), Davies (T), Romano, Laguerre, Ikuvalu, Mourgue (4/5 G), Fages, Navarrete, McIlorum (T), Bousquet, Sims (SO on 8), Sironen, Garcia (T). Subs: Wallace, Aispuro-Buchet, Satae, Dezaria. 18th Man: Séguier.
Hull FC: Walker (T), Barron, Tuimavave (T), Sutcliffe, Martin (T), Charles (2/3 G), Ese’Ese, Smith, Sao (SO on 16), Lane, Chamberlain, Aydin. Subs: Balmforth, Fash, Gardiner, Vuniyayawa. 18th Man: Laidlaw.
Half-Time: 14-6.
Full-Time: 24-16.
Score Progression: 4-0, 6-0, (SO), 6-4, 6-6, (SO), 8-6, 12-6, 14-6 : HT: 14-10, 14-12, 18-12, 20-12, 24-12, 24-16 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Catalans – Square – Catalans.
Referee: Liam Rush.
