Leeds Rhinos blow away Catalans Dragons in superb second-half showing
Last Updated: 28/03/15 11:54pm
Leeds Rhinos moved to the top of the Super League table after coming from behind to register a 38-22 victory over Catalans Dragons in Perpignan.
The Rhinos looked in trouble after conceding three unanswered tries at the start of the second half, but they responded in spectacular fashion, scoring five tries without reply in the final 23 minutes to climb above St Helens on points difference.
Seven different players crossed the whitewash for Brian McDermott’s men, while Liam Sutcliffe kicked five goals.
The visitors opened the scoring after seven minutes when Carl Ablett stepped through a gap to dot down, but the Dragons hit back through Elliott Whitehead following superb play by Scott Dureau and Ian Henderson.
Stevie Ward burst through Benjamin Garcia on 35 minutes to hand Leeds a 10-6 lead at the interval, but the Dragons came out fighting in the second half.
Whitehead scored his second try within one minute of the restart before Eloi Pelissier skipped in from dummy-half, and Damien Cardace’s superb score in the corner completed a remarkable 13 minutes for Laurent Frayssinous’s men.
That was Leeds' cue to fire up, though. Forward Brad Singleton, proving a handy try-scorer in 2015, crashed on to a Rob Burrow pass to touch down and then skipper-for-the-day Danny McGuire went in after fine link-up play between Joel Moon and Ryan Hall.
Two conversions by Sutcliffe left it at 22-22 and Catalans had no answer to the flow of points.
They fell behind in unfortunate circumstances as Sutcliffe's grubber kick reared up off the turf and left Willie Tonga slapping the air, with Sutcliffe following up to score.
That broke the home side's resolve and things were finished off soon after as Kallum Watkins took in a Burrow break to score and then Zak Hardaker touched down after a short drop out went wrong.