A poor and totally lacklustre Saints were sent a warning ahead of the Challenge Cup Final - beware of the Dragons.

 

Saints simply didn't handle the ball well or do anything in attack to warrant anything from the game; and the Dragons took every chance to make them pay.

 

Saints made two changes from the side that beat Hull last week - Kyle Eastmond coming in at stand off for Jon Wilkin who returned to his natural second row position and Jason Cayless who slotted back into the pack.

 

On the teamsheet, Adam Moog started at scrum half with Stacey Jones at stand off, but the former is more suited to the stand off role and was expected to play in that position.

 

Conditions were perfect for fast flowing rugby league - around 25 degrees, although a little humid and the ground firm underfoot. And the home crowd were certainly the most partisan saintsrlfc.com had ever witnessed.

 

And it was Catalan that made the better start - stifling Saints in their own half and making several yards each time they had the ball.

 

On 5 minutes Stacey Jones put in a trademark grubber, but it was just too strong as his forwards stormed towards it. From the restart, Jon Wilkin made good yards, but Long couldn't find the pass to set Gards off.

 

A few minutes later Saints found themselves in good field position after a penalty but again poor handling couldn't finish the job.

 

Kyle then took the ball to the try line but his cute pass was knocked forward by Catalans.

 

Missed opportunity came the watch word of what was a turgid opening. Both teams were strong in defence, but lacked that cutting edge in attack.

 

Stacey Jones thought he had opened up the game on 22 minutes – his bomb left alone by Wellens; ball picked up and fired over to the wing. But a forward pass denied the home team an opening.

 

Saints were fairing no better with the forward line failing to make much headway against some strong tackling.

 

On the half hour mark some space was worked for Talau to sprint clear, but the Kiwi chose to come inside when Meli was in space and the chance went begging.

 

It was an excellent opportunity for the Saints to take the lead and Catalan instantly made them pay. A penalty for offside took them to within a metre and Stacey Jones did the rest - his grubber kick pounced on by Khattabi in the corner.

And with a minute to go Saints bombed another chance, ending a miserable first half showing. First Mike Bennett went close, then Long took it on. With space begging on the left he fired a beautiful pass to Willie, but the centre failed to catch it at speed.

 

Half time couldn't come soon enough.

 

Saints needed to score first in the second half and should have done when Wilkin made a great break down the middle. His support player, Paul Wellens, was clearly held back by the defence and nothing was given. Wellens took the ball on when Wilko was tackled, but the chance had gone and Sean Long failed to deliver an inch perfect kick to send the ball dead.

 

Straightaway, Catalan got a penalty went up the field and scored - that man again Stacey Jones with a pinpoint grubber to Justin Murphy. Once again the defence was awful when facing Jones and his tricks. Meli, who has been outstanding all year, failing to deal with what should have been a regular grounding of the ball to force a drop out.

 

Croker then got in on the act to send the Dragons' fans into raptures. He caught a pass at full speed, Cayless missing a tackle, in the middle to sprint clear of Talau. Jones added the routine extras.

 

Saints needed something special and quick. First Kyle tried a Jonesque kick to the corner that was slightly too long and then successive drives followed by a neat kick through from Gidley threatened something.

 

Catalan had a try chalked off by the video ref with a quarter of the game to go that would have killed the game off and it seemed to galvanise some life out of the Saints.

 

First Graham went close but once again poor handling and a penalty for offside blew any chance of a return in the Catalan's half.

 

A try by Greenshields and a Jones Drop goal finished the game off.

 

And if things couldn’t get much worse for the Saints, most of the first team squad and back room staff only arrived home at 4:15am on Monday morning after a firefighters strike in Perpignan caused the cancellation of their early morning flight.

 

Tries: Khattabi, Murphy, Croker, Greenshields

Goals: Jones (2 from 4)

Drop: Jones

Tries:

Goals

Catalan: 6

Saints: 8

HT: 0-4

FT: 0-21

ATT: 8,800

 

1. Paul Wellens; 2. Ade Gardner, 3. Matt Gidley, 4. Willie Talau, 5. Francis Meli; 26. Kyle Eastmond, 7. Sean Long;  17. James Graham, 9. Keiron Cunningham (C), 10. Jason Cayless, 12. Jon Wilkin, 15. Mike Bennett, 30. Chris Flannery.

(Subs) 14. James Roby, 18. Bryn Hargreaves, 22. Paul Clough, 23. Maurie Fa'asavalu.

 

REF: Phil Bentham