The final game of the opening weekend of Super League Super 8s saw third placed St. Helens travel to a rain soaked south of France to take on eighth placed Catalans Dragons.

Both sides were missing several first-teamers through injuries and while Saints were the favourites, you can never count against the Dragons when they are playing in-front of their vociferous and partisan support.

What would unfold was a scrappy eighty minutes full of controversy, errors, and three tries apiece. Tonight's difference would be the boot of Scott Dureau.

After a scrappy opening ten minutes it was the home side who took the lead after a Scott Dureau grubber was collected in-goal and scored by Tony Gigot. Dureau added the conversion for an early Dragons lead.

Dureau extended the lead to 8-0 after a penalty against Saints for a flop tackle.

In a weekend of scrappy tries, it was Saints who scored one next after the ball was hacked forward by Luke Walsh, then knocked back by Morgan Escare, before Walsh chased his own kick and got a hand on the ball in goal to score, after close scrutiny from the video referees. Walsh kicked the conversion and reduced the arrears to two points.

On thirty the Dragons turned down the offer of a simple two points from a penalty, and on the fourth tackle running the ball, Louis Anderson went over from acting half-back. Dureau kicked the extras for 14-6.

Four minutes before the break and Saints capitalised on an Escare swinging arm to work the ball left and put Matt Dawson over in the corner. Walsh missed the conversion.

A Saints mistake in attack by Mark Percival allowed Bosc to pick up the loose ball, make a break and then pass inside to Morgan Escare to go sixty metres to score. When Dureau added the extras he'd given his side a deserved 20-10 half-time lead.

Two minutes after the interval and the whole dynamic of the game shifted as Ben Pomeroy was sent-off for a shoulder charge to the head. Saints were ten points adrift but now up against twelve for the remainder.

A minute after the sending off, Escare was hit after kicking the ball through and Dureau kicked the two points on offer for 22-10. On forty-eight he added another two, this time after Saints were offside in their own twenty.

On fifty-seven Saints ate into the Dragons lead when Joe Greenwood found his way over the whitewash in heavy traffic and Walsh kicked the extras to reduce the deficit to eight. And ten minutes from the end of the game it looked like Saints had scored through Greg Richards but the video referees ruled out his effort for a dubious obstruction.

A high tackle from Walsh on Julien Bosquet gave Scott Dureau another two points and allowed the Dragons to run the clock down to the final hooter.

This was a scrappy game, in poor conditions, played by two sides looking a little tired and jaded. Despite losing Pomeroy at the start of the second half the Dragons continued their formidable home form to take the two points off the champions, and condemn them to a week tucked in behind Wigan and Leeds (who meet next Friday night at Headingley).

The Dragons Super 8s campaign is up and running but they've still a mountain to climb to secure a top four spot.

Dragons: Escare (T), Inu, Gigot (T), Pomeroy (RC), Tonga, Bosc, Dureau (7G), Elima, Henderson, Lima, Taia, Whitehead, Baitieri. Subs: Pelissier, Anderson (T), Garcia, Bosquet.

Saints: Quinlan, Dawson (T), Percival, Jones, Swift, Burns, Walsh (T, 2G), Walmsley, Roby, Richards, Greenwood (T), Flanagan, Thompson. Subs: Masoe, Amor, Savelio, Davies.

Referee: Richard Silverwood
Attendance: 7,392