St Helens 28 Catalans 10

8:51am Monday 19th May 2008

Saints leapfrogged their Catalans rivals to move into second but it was a lacklustre display and a game to forget.

The match never really got going, with Saints having the game wrapped up by the break after scoring three unanswered tries.

The size of victory would have been even greater had Sean Long brought his kicking boots - managing only two of his six attempts at goal.

Saints opened the scoring after three minutes when Keiron Cunningham went from dummy half before finding Sean Long, who put in a smart grubber for Chris Flannery to touch down.

A period of deadlock was broken when Leon Pryce showed a great step and then passed the ball out of the tackle for Cunningham to drive over on 20 minutes. Long added the extras to put Saints into double figures.

On 27 minutes Saints made the pressure count with James Graham taking James Roby's flat ball to spin through for another try. Long converted, making it 16-0.

Saints again conceded a try within five minutes of the break with a smart break from Casey McGuire, started by Thomas Bosc resulting in a try from centre Adam Mogg. Bosc slotted the conversion to give the Frenchmen some hope.

However, Saints dominated the territory and following a string of penalties on the Catalans line - all tapped - they carved out a chance on the right but Ade Gardner was unable to take what would have been a try scoring pass from the magnificent Matt Gidley.

Clint Greenshields was sin-binned for persistent Dragons infringements, and Gardner was soon over the whitewash. Unfortunately, the referee blew for a knock on in the build up when it appeared to come off a Catalans hand.

Pressure eventually took its toll with Long's wide ball taken by Gidley, who unleashed Gardner with a perfectly timed pass. Gardner touched down, stretching his run to seven consecutive matches.

Another cracking pass from Gidley sent Gardner into space, and he touched down in the corner for his 15th try of the year.

Pryce poached a chance to score from close range. Long again missed with the extras.

Catalans, however, had the last word with Greenshields touching down in the corner in the last minute.

Saints lost Lee Gilmour late in the game with what appeared to be an ankle injury and he will be in doubt for next week.

After the game Saints coach Daniel Anderson said: "The score was good but the game was terrible. We were poor and they were terrible. We have been in some games that have been a great advertisement for rugby league but that was not one of them.

"There were a number of dropped balls. It may be that we have had three very emotional games in consecutive weeks.

"They trained very well this week and indicated that they were going to give an energetic performance. Thankfully Catalans were not there tonight. We got the points and move into second place."

St Helens: Wellens; Gardner, Gidley, Talau, Meli; Pryce, Long; Cayless, Cunningham, Graham Gilmour, Flannery, Wilkin. Subs: Roby, Bennett, Hargreaves, Clough.

Catalans: Greenshields; Khattabi , Mogg, Wilson, Pelo Bosc, McGuire; Chan, Gorrell, Ferriol, Raguin, Croker, Mounis. Subs: Guisset, Carlaw, Fakir, Casty.

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