SAINTS pulled off one of their gutsiest wins of the season in the south of France to all but mathematically secure the League Leaders Shield.

Second best physically and on field position for large parts of the second half against their Challenge Cup conquerors, Saints found a way to hang in and then hold their nerve to come up with the crucial late scores when they counted.

Trailing by two points with less than three minutes to play, senior debutant hooker Aaron Smith made a searing, direct run from dummy half to set up the position for Morgan Knowles to crash on to a pass where he used every weapon in his tool kit to drive, fend, twist and turn to the line from 20 metres.

It will give a huge fillip to the Saints side, whose confidence had been knocked from pillar to post since that semi defeat by the Dragons.

The triumph was achieved without star-men Ben Barba and James Roby, who were both out injured.

At full back Jonny Lomax was immense on both sides of the ball and certainly showed he can still do it as much there as at half back.

Catalans started strongly, with David Mead and Remy Casty giving them a 10-0 lead, with the home side’s offloading catching Saints out.

However Saints spread the ball well and Jon Wilkin, Theo Fages, Lomax, and Regan Grace combined to send Mark Percival dashing over.

In a game littered with disallowed tries, Percival had a cracker chalked off for a forward pass.

Kenny Edwards had one disallowed at the other end.

With Sam Moa yellow carded for a late shot on Smith, Saints made it count with Theo Fages dancing over.

Richardson’s three goals made that a 14-12 lead at the break.

But the physicality went up a notch after the restart and at times it looked like Saints could not get out of their own 30m.

With all the ball and field position, Catalans soon made it count on the scoreboard.

Tries from Iain Thornley and Edwards gave Catalans an eight-point lead and another score would have buckled Saints permanently.

But showing an enormous amount of guts – particularly the young packmen – once they got a sniff of decent field position, they looked capable of doing something with it.

Keeping the ball alive, a strong, sharp thrusting run from Percival followed by an inside ball saw Lomax finish off with aplomb.

With the deficit cut to two points Saints pressed for the winner – and they got their reward late on to send the travelling fans into raptures.

It is a huge win for Saints – that will go some way to stopping the wobble of the last four weeks.

Catalans: Gigot; Tierney, Mead, Wiliame, Thornley; Langi, Drinkwater; Simon, McIlorum, Moa, Bird, Edwards, Casty. Subs: Bousquet, Baitieri, Da Costa, Goudemand.

Saints: Lomax; Makinson, Costello, Percival, Grace; Fages, Richardson; Amor, Knowles, Thompson, Taia, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Wilkin. Subs: Douglas, Lees, Ashworth, Aaron Smith.