Quote:

 

The French side scored three tries in the space of seven minutes late in the first half through Vincent Duport, Olivier Elima and Dimitri Pelo.

Pelo added another score after the break but two tries by Luke George and one from Ryan Atkins gave the Wildcats hope before Thomas Bosc's drop-goal.

The French side will face Huddersfield on Friday in the next round.

Quote:

 

The Dragons, who looked certain to miss out on the top eight a fortnight ago, followed up their precious win at St Helens in the final match of the regular season with a first play-off victory away from home at Wakefield last Saturday. Walters believes his side are on a roll as they seek to move to within 80 minutes of a maiden Grand Final appearance.

Quote:

 

Catalans Dragons booked their place in the Super League play-off semi-finals with a surprise win over Challenge Cup finalists Huddersfield.

The French side deserved the victory with Clint Greenshields, Dimitri Pelo and Olivier Elima all crossing.

Their defence was outstanding while Huddersfield looked short of ideas and wasted a number of good opportunities.

Catalans, who finished eighth in the table, will face either Leeds or St Helens in next weekend's semi-finals.

Just Joshin

Sep 27 2009, 01:29 PM

Just watching the game now and the ground looks pretty empty for a finals game.

Quote:

 

Leeds Rhinos have chosen French club Catalans Dragons as their opponents for Friday's Super League play-off semi-final at Headingley.

The 'ClubCall' decision means Wigan will take on local rivals St Helens in the second semi-final, with a place in the Grand Final at stake.

The Dragons were eighth at the end of the regular season, with Wigan sixth.

"It was a 50-50 call. Both teams beat us the last time we played," said Rhinos coach Brian McClennan.

"We looked at the lowest-ranked team coming through but Catalans are doing a great job. They are in good form and we know we're in for a tough job on Friday."

The play-off system, featuring eight teams, has been revamped this year.

turner

Sep 30 2009, 10:13 PM

I wouldn't say their fans don't travel. They traveled down to catalonia eariler this year and got a massive crowd. Going from southern france to northern england isn't a small trip

Quote:

 

In his vitriolic attack on the players, Bernard Guasch accused them of letting the club down and told them they were all free to leave.

The Dragons players responded to the stinging criticism a week later by winning at St Helens to secure their play-off spot and, after gathering momentum in sudden-death victories over Wakefield and Huddersfield, Elima says there is belief in the camp that they can go all the way.

"We went to St Helens just to prove a point, not to the board or the supporters, but to ourselves, that we had a good squad," he said.

"We played for each other and it worked out pretty good. We kept on going, we had the motivation and, now we're only 80 minutes from the final, anything can happen."

Catalans were selected as the Rhinos' opponents as part of the League's new 'clubcall' system, with Wigan sent to St Helens in Saturday's second semi-final, but Elima says the decision will not add to their motivation.

Quote:

 

Leeds Rhinos booked their place in the Super League grand final with a hard-fought win over a battling Catalans.

Leeds' Danny McGuire and Catalan's Vincent Duport traded scores early on.

Then, in a four-minute burst before half time Leeds hit a trio of tries with Ryan Hall going over twice and a wonderful second try from McGuire.

A Scott Donald try and a Kevin Sinfield drop goal for Leeds held off the Dragons charge, who added three tries, two from Dupont and one from Adam Mogg.