Super League: Catalan Dragons beat Hull KR to end Robins top eight hopes
Last Updated: 07/09/14 5:32pm
Catalan Dragons beat Hull KR 32-14 to record just their fourth away victory of the season and end Rovers' play-off hopes in the process.
Catalans deserved the win with a solid performance against a Rovers side that ran out of steam as they went on.
Their top-eight hopes were all but over after a performance against Hull last week that coach Chris Chester described as "embarrassing", and this loss just confirmed the inevitable.
Rovers actually opened the scoring in the ninth minute after forcing a repeat set close to the visitors try line and a penalty for Craig Hall's quick hands meant Liam Salter had the space to dive over in the left hand corner.
Salter was a late call-up for Kris Welham whose wife went into labour on the morning of the game. Travis Burns converted for a 6-0 lead that the home side deserved are their positive opening.
The lead lasted five minutes. Catalans broke down their right-hand side with Elliott Whitehead and Ben Pomeroy combining to send Michael Oldfield away for the Dragons' first try. Thomas Bosc added the extras from in front of the posts to make it 6-6 after 15 minutes.
The Dragons, whose only away wins this season came against already relegated London and Bradford, took the lead in the 28th minute. From a scrum 20 metres from their own line, they went down the blindside where Whitehead offloaded to Oldfield who scored from 60 metres, shrugging off a poor attempted tackle by the back tracking Greg Eden. Bosc converted for a 12-6 lead.
Rovers rally
Rovers rallied and scored seven minutes before half-time. Macauley Hallett, making his Rovers debut, marked his big day with a try. Eden's long pass left Hallett with plenty to do, but he remained composed to spin his way over the line at full stretch. Burns missed the conversion to leave Rovers trailing 12-10 with five minutes of the first half remaining.
Rovers started the second half by kicking the ball beyond the in-goal area to give Catalans the first opportunity to score. They were unable to post points.
Neville Costigan squandered a certain try knocking on before the try line. Moments later, Costigan's Papua New Guinea team-mate Jason Chan showed him how it was done, bouncing out of several tackles in a darting run across the pitch to give KR the lead again. Burns missed his second conversion of the match to leave the Robins leading 14-12.
Once again the lead changed hands with a brilliant piece of opportunism by Dragons scrum-half Sam Williams. Catalans were awarded a penalty for obstruction and while Rovers stood around, Williams quickly tapped the ball and sprinted 65 metres brushing off Burns in the process to score. Bosc converted to give the visitors an 18-14 lead with 24 minutes to play.
Rovers' season was hanging by a thread, but they were finally put out of their misery in the 70th minute when Oldfield completed his hat-trick. Bosc's missed conversion made it 22-14 with nine minutes to play.
Williams compounded Rovers misery with his second try six minutes from time, following up his own kick with little resistance from the home side's defence. Bosc's third missed kick did not matter.
He then finished the game by converting Morgan Escare's 25th try of the season to hammer the final nail in Rovers coffin.
