Dragons end losing run
Catalans Dragons fought back from 22-10 down in the second half to beat Wakefield 30-23 at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
Last Updated: 19/06/10 8:50pm
Catalans Dragons bounced back from a 12-point deficit in the second half to see off faltering Wakefield 30-23 at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
Super League's bottom club looked set to suffer a 10th straight defeat when Julien Rinaldi marked his Wildcats debut with a try against his old club.
The second-half effort by the former Dragon put the visitors into a healthy lead following earlier scores from Damien Blanch, Paul Cooke and Matt Blaymire.
But Les Catalans rallied in stunning fashion to pinch the points, the influential Thomas Bosc sealing the comeback with a late penalty.
Chorus
A home win had certainly not looked on the cards when Rinaldi crashed over for Wakefield's fourth try to a chorus of boos from the home faithful.
John Kear's side had earlier broken the deadlock in the seventh minute thanks to a length-of-the-field effort from Damien Blanch, the winger seizing on a loose ball near his own line before galloping away to score.
The hosts did hit back through the fit-again Dimitri Pelo, who accepted Bosc's long cut-out pass to canter in at the left corner, only to concede two more tries in the space of three minutes midway through the opening half.
Paul Cooke grabbed the first next to the uprights when he worked his way through some weak tackling as he cut in from the left to dive over.
After the stand-off added the conversion, Bosc's re-start got caught up in the strong wind and failed to go the required distance, leading to a penalty.
Although Cooke was this time stopped short on the resulting set of six, Sam Obst's clever grubber on the next tackle was caught and converted by full-back Matt Blaymire in one swift movement.
Les Catalans did cut the deficit before the break when Sebastian Raguin jumped highest to claim Bosc's bomb out on the left, the successful conversion making it an eight-point gap at the interval.
Wakefield had already gone close twice at the start of the second half before hooker Rinaldi, who was signed on a month-long loan deal this week, worked his way over from dummy-half to put his new employers in complete control.
Dragons dominated
From then on, though, the Dragons dominated. Full-back Clint Greenshields began the recovery effort by marking his return to action with a try out wide.
Although an unlikely drop goal from prop Paul King made it 23-16 with 15 minutes to play, the French side were now the ones on the front foot.
Bosc converted Setaimata Sa's try on the right and then also added the extras when Olivier Elima waltzed through a tired defensive line, giving Catalans their first lead of the contest with only seven minutes left on the clock.
A penalty from the inspirational half-back cemented just a third league win of the campaign for Kevin Walters' side and their first since March 27. In contrast, Kear - who this week was linked with the Dragons vacancy - will have to go back to the drawing board as the play-offs begin to slip away.
