The Catalan Dragons enjoyed yet more success on English soil last night as they overcame the Huddersfield Giants 18-16 in a tight Super League play off eliminator, reaching their first semi final in the competition since 2009 as a result. The French side's reward will be to play St Helens, after Club Call resulted in the Shield winners (St Helens topped the league in the normal season) picking Catalans. The other semi sets up a mouthwatering local derby between Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves.
Having beaten Leeds Rhinos with a last gasp score on West Yorkshire soil last weekend, they repeated the feat at the John Smith's Stadium against a Huddersfield side that were still smarting from a heavy defeat to Wigan the week before, that had put them in the "last chance saloon" to qualify for the semis.
Coach Paul Anderson decided to refresh the side after that 57-4 humbling with Jodie Broughton coming in on the wing a notable inclusion.
A tight game was ultimately decided when Thomas Bosc notched up his third goal of the night after centre Ben Pomeroy had crossed the Giants' line, keeping their dreams alive of reaching a first Grand Final in their history.
Despite floodlight problems in the first 15 minutes, the game developed into a tight affair. Indeed, neither side could be split at half time as they went in 10-10, following tries by Broughton and Aaron Murphy for Huddersfield that were punctuated by Catalan tries for Daryl Millard and Michael Oldfield, the latter demonstrating a neat side step past Murphy for his score in a one on one situation.
The second half was equally close, including tight refereeing decisions that ruled out further tries for either side, with Bosc kicking a penalty goal five minutes after the re-start that was cancelled out by scrum-half Luke Robinson's try for the Giants on the hour mark. Danny Brough (who was playing despite carrying an injury into the game) converted to give the Giants a 16-12 lead.
The Catalans were in determined mood though and eight minutes later Pomeroy's try, after a tricky high kick from Bosc was not dealt with by Huddersfield, brought the teams level again. That gave Bosc the chance to edge his side ahead with an awkward conversion that he duly took and a place in the semis was theirs.
The semi finals will see St Helens play the Catalans next Thursday, while Wigan will be at home to Warrington the following evening.