Catalans beat Hull KR in golden-point game

Betfred Super League

Hull KR (0) 14

Tries: Broadbent, Burgess Goals: Lewis 3

Catalans (14) 15

Tries: Da Costa, Johnstone Goals: Mourgue 3 Drop-goal: Fages

Hull KR missed the chance to go second in Super League as they suffered a golden-point defeat at home by Catalans Dragons.

Catalans took a 14-0 lead in the first half with tries from Alrix da Costa and Tom Johnstone at Sewell Group Craven Park.

But the Robins responded after the interval as scores from Jack Broadbent and Joe Burgess took the game to golden point.

And, after both sides had missed chances to win it, Theo Fages kicked the decisive drop goal in the second period of extra time.

Hull KR stay fourth, and Catalans remain sixth, but the two sides are now only separated by two points.

It was the second golden-point game of the day after Leeds Rhinos pipped London Broncos and a second successive one-point game for the Robins after they defeated Castleford Tigers a fortnight ago.

This was a first Super League win on the road for Catalans Dragons since 30 March

The French side have been struggling for consistency during the middle of the season, but they were boosted by hooker Da Costa burrowing through some weak Robins defending to get the scoreboard ticking early on.

The Dragons, who included eight players from the France team that were thrashed by England in Toulouse seven days ago, then stretched their lead before the break with a piece of magic.

Stand-off Fages evaded a couple of tackles in midfield before offloading to Johnstone who had come in-field. The winger then jinked his way through a gap before running in under the posts for a fine score.

The home side had to respond after the interval if they wanted to take advantage of St Helens' shock loss against Castleford on Friday and it took fewer than five minutes to finally get on the board with Broadbent going in.

Seven minutes later and fine handling across the line ended with Burgess shrugging off opposite winger Johnstone to run into the corner.

The momentum was with the home side and a Mikey Lewis goal levelled the scores after Jordan Abdull had conceded a penalty when his goal-line drop-out failed to go 10 metres.

Neither team could find a winning score before the hooter as the tension rose until Fages landed one in between the posts.

It is a first win in England for Les Dracs since March and the first time they have won successive league games since April, while defeat ends the Robins' four-game winning streak.

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters told BBC Radio Humberside:

"It's mixed feelings. We got beaten at the end but our first half, we weren't happy with that at all.

"We had a good chat about it at half-time and I was really proud of how the boys turned it around and put ourselves in a winning position.

"Naturally it hurts the players when they put all that effort in and fall short at the end."

Catalans Dragons boss Steve McNamara:

"There was a lot of criticism about the international last week, but the French took a bit of a hammering.

"But it was important for us to get back out, seven days later, French team in a notoriously tough place, play a game and put French rugby league back on the positive side of it again.

"That's a big result to come across here and win. With all the circumstances of the boys playing for France, nearly all of them, it was a tough game and they were tired all week. So to get them across here and perform like that, it is a credit to them."

Hull KR: Evalds; Burgess, Hiku, Broadbent, Hall; May, Lewis; Sue, Litten, King, Hadley, Tanginoa, Whitbread.

Interchanges: Minchella, Parcell, Luckley, Storton.

Catalans: Mourgue; Davies, Ikuvalu, Romano, Johnstone; Fages, Abdull; Navarrete, Da Costa, Bousquet, Sims, Sironen, Garcia.

Interchanges: Seguier, Rouge, Dezaria. Satae.

Referee: Liam Moore