Crusaders see off Dragons
Gareth Thomas endured a painful debut in rugby league but Crusaders still managed a 14-6 win over Catalans Dragons.
Last Updated: 20/03/10 11:23am
Gareth Thomas endured a tough baptism to rugby league but Crusaders still managed a 14-6 win over Catalans Dragons at a wet Racecourse.
Tries from Jason Chan and Peter Lupton helped the Welsh side collect a third win in Super League XV - equalling their tally for the whole of last year.
Thomas' debut in the 13-man code proved to be a painful one, though, a head injury forcing the former British and Irish Lions captain off after 30 minutes.
The damage had been done on a run from dummy half inside a minute, with insult being added to injury when he was penalised for losing the ball.
Injury problems
Les Catalans know plenty about injuries themselves and arrived in Wrexham without the influential duo of Thomas Bosc and Clint Greenshields, who suffered a broken leg in the home loss to Castleford last Saturday.
Before a pass had even been thrown the visitors found themselves with another name on the casualty list, Chris Walker being ruled out in the warm-up.
David Guasch was drafted in at the last minute to make his debut but could do nothing to stop Chan breaking the deadlock in the 10th minute.
The forward cut back on the angle to burst through the line, the television official eventually awarding the score next to the uprights.
Michael Witt added the conversion and then regained his composure to kick a 35th minute penalty after being on the end of a high shot from Jamal Fakir.
By that stage Thomas had already left the action seeing stars, his opening night ending with him being helped off.
Having trailed 8-0 at the break, Les Catalans finally got themselves on the scoreboard seven minutes after the break thanks to a try from Olivier Elima.
The French international - Super League's top try-scoring forward in 2009 - rose highest to reel in Casey McGuire's high kick, beating Witt and Nick Youngquest to the up-and-under.
Pressure
Gregory Mounis' conversion cut the gap down to two points, though that proved to be as close as the Dragons got.
Crusaders threw everything at their rivals in an attempt to score a second try, at one stage forcing three successive sets of six without reward.
However the period of pressure, combined with the miserable conditions and a heavy pitch, sapped the life out of the depleted Dragons.
A tired defensive line was eventually breached by Peter Lupton, who was given the benefit of doubt over whether he'd grounded the ball after cutting through the first line of defence with a neat dummy.
Witt added the extras to give the Crusaders a comfortable cushion and any hopes of a late French comeback ended when Steve Bell's bid to run in a try out on the right were dashed by full-back's Elliot Kear last-ditch tackle.
