Rugby

Match Report

The dismissal of David Ferriol sparked the Catalans Dragons into life to take a hard faught 28 - 34 victory over the Bradford Bulls at a sun drenched Odsal Stadium, Bradford.

The Dragons were clinging to a 12-10 lead when Ferriol was sent off on 46 minutes for a high tackle on James Donaldson and they looked certain to pay the price when Bulls prop Tom Burgess scored his first engage Super League try to put the home side into an 18-12 lead.

However, the Catalans played their best rugby while down to 12 men, scoring four tries in the last 25 minutes to secure a crucial win that kept alive their top-four hopes and dealt a blow to Bradford’s play-off aspirations.

Much of the credit for the French side’s victory must go to Menzies, the legendary Australian who intends to play on beyond his 38th birthday in December and demonstrated why there is no shortage of demand for his services.

Playing as a makeshift stand-off in the absence of Thomas Bosc, Ben Farrar and Setaima Sa, Menzies had a hand in three of Catalan’s seven tries and saved the day by tracking back to haul Ben Jeffries into touch after he looked set to score an interception try.

Appropriately, it was Bradford’s solitary Frenchman who opened the scoring after eight minutes.

Olivier Elima, who left the Dragons under a cloud at the end of last season, took great delight in bumping off his former team-mate Clint Greenshields to touch down after being put through a gap by Marc Herbert.

Greenshields made amends when he took Menzies’ pass to slice through the Bulls defence on a diagnal run to score direct from a scrum near the home line.

Scott Dureau was unable to add the conversion but his 40-20 kick enabled the visitors to keep the pressure applied and they went ahead on 23 minutes when Menzies and Jean-Phillipe Baile worked an overlap for winger Damien Blanch to touch down for the first of his two tries.

Dureau was again off target with the conversion attempt but Menzies’ heroics ensured the Catalans kept their noses in front and Blanch went close to intercepting Elima’s pass which would have given him a clear run to the line.

The Dragons’ familiar weakness is their indiscipline and coach Trent Robinson must have been in despair as Patrick Ah Van made them pay by landing two penalties in five minutes before the break to nudge the Bulls into a 10-8 lead.

The Dragons were back in front within two minutes of the re-start when second rower Sebastien Raguin forced his way over from dummy half after Dureau had been held short, but the half-back was again wide with the goalkick.

The turning point looked to have come with Ferriol’s dismissal as Burgess crashed through the 12-man defence from close range after Danny Addy had reached the line without being able to ground the ball.

Ah Van’s fifth goal from as many attempts made it 18-12 but it was all square on 55 minutes when former Bradford hooker Henderson caught the Bulls defenders napping with a run from dummy half.

Dureau found the target at the fourth attempt and the visitors hit the front for the third time on 62 minutes when that man Menzies put Lopini Paea into a gap with a superbly-timed pass and Greenshields was in support to get Dureau over for the try of the match.

Bulls full-back Brett Kearney had a try contriversially disallowed for a double movement but there was no way back once Remy Casti charged down a Bradford pass to send Blanch racing away for his second try.

Greenshields grabbed his second try, courtesy of a long-range break by Daryl Millard, but at least Bradford had the final say when winger Gareth Raynor touched down at the corner for his side’s fourth try but there was too little time to push on for the much needed second.