Dragons' slump continues

The Catalan Dragons' poor form continued following a 30-10 loss against Hull FC on Sunday at the KC Stadium.

The Dragons' third defeat in four matches sees them remain level on points in fourth position with the Leeds Rhinos.

The win for the Black and Whites means Peter Gentle's troops are two points behind on 28 points from their 24 outings.

In the 10th minute Hull had their first good field position as Willie Manu's tackle dislodged the ball from Damien Blanch inside the French side's 20.

The Airlie Birds were over seconds later when a short pass from Danny Houghton found Manu for the try under the posts, and Jamie Foster added the two points.

A quarter of an hour in Tom Lineham looked to be on his way to a sensational long-range try but a penalty was called against his side for obstruction. That gave the visitors good position and some nice hands from Louis Anderson allowed Vincent Duport to crash over in the corner, Scott Dureau levelling it up with the conversion from the touchline.

Pressure

After seeing off some concerted pressure from the Dragons, FC forced a drop-out on the half-hour from Brett Seymour's well-executed grubber kick. Jordan Turner sent Lineham on his way to score in the corner - showing great finishing skills in the process - before Foster converted for a six-point lead.

Hull started the second half the stronger with a nice chip from Ryan McGoldrick forcing a drop-out after five minutes. Manu broke two tackles whilst stepping inside and supplied the on-rushing Chris Green for the try under the posts, Foster converting again to extend the lead to 12.

The visitors found themselves close to the FC line on 50 minutes, but a kick from Dureau was blocked and picked up by Briscoe, and the Featherstone-born player then ran 90 metres untouched for a great try. FC extended their lead further nine minutes later to 18 with a penalty by Foster.

The Dragons regained the ball from the restart and reduced the gap to 14 when Duport grabbed his second try by bulldozing his way over in the corner.

With just over 10 minutes to go they forced a drop-out, but subsequent pressure was not utilised as Remi Casty knocked on in a good position.

Foster then sealed the win for FC as he went over the in the corner to push his side back up to sixth in the table.