Salford 12-26 Catalans: Jodie Broughton shines in Dragons win

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Highlights from Catalans Dragons vs Salford Red Devils in Game 5 of the Dacia Magic Weekend

Jodie Broughton scored a second-half hat-trick as Catalans Dragons climbed off the bottom of the Super League table with a commanding 26-12 win over Salford at St James' Park.

It was a crucial match in the Dragons' battle to avoid the bottom four and they rose to the challenge to move to within two points of the eight-placed Red Devils.

Weller Hauraki opened the scoring after a positive start by Salford but Catalans went into half-time with a slender lead thanks to efforts from Ben Garcia and Julian Bousquet.

Broughton went over for his 100th Super League try and made it three in 13 minutes to end Salford's challenge.

George Griffin had the last word but the Red Devils were well beaten.

Salford's Robert Lui and Catalans Dragons' Benjamin Garcia battle for the ball

It was the first meeting between the sides at the Dacia Magic Weekend and it is not one that will live long in the memory.

Salford went into the game in Newcastle occupying the final top-eight place and they were quickly out of the blocks.

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Catalans winger Jodie Broughton put in a man of the match display as the Dragons registered a 26-12 victory over Salford Red Devils

Derrell Olpherts had already had a try ruled out for offside when Hauraki opened the scoring by powering his way over under the posts after a well-worked one-two with Mark Flanagan.

The Dragons got their first look at the Salford line on 14 minutes and they left with points as Garcia stretched out to touch down on his 100th Catalans appearance from Greg Bird's flat pass.

Hauraki clashes with Catalans Dragons' Greg Bird

Josh Drinkwater missed the conversion from out wide and Tony Gigot was also off target from a penalty after Griffin interfered at the play of the ball.

But the Dragons continued to turn the screw and got their reward as Bousquet took advantage of Logan Tomkins' mistake from Michael McIlorum's kick into the in-goal area.

Catalans Dragons' Mickael Simon is smothered by Salford players

Gigot added the extras to make it 10-6 and it would have got worse for Salford had Garcia not failed to get downward pressure on Drinkwater's dab through.

The Red Devils would have been relieved to go into the break only four points down but they were unable to shift the momentum after the restart as Catalans took control thanks to Broughton's clinical finishing.

The winger crossed for his milestone try after taking Brayden Williame's looping pass and shrugging off Niall Evalds' attempted tackle.

Broughton scores his opening try for the Dragons

He outpaced Robert Lui to cross for his second after taking Drinkwater's sublime pass inside his own half before collecting Gigot's pinpoint kick to the corner to complete his treble.

Salford suffered another blow when centre Kris Welham hobbled off with a leg injury and Gigot slotted over his third goal from a penalty to end their remote hopes of a miraculous comeback.

Griffin strolled over for a consolation score five minutes from time but Jack Littlejohn summed up a miserable afternoon for the Red Devils when he dropped the restart.