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Catalans make it 10 straight S League wins

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Former Bulldog Sam Kasiano helped change the game for Catalans Dragons when he came off the bench.
Camera IconFormer Bulldog Sam Kasiano helped change the game for Catalans Dragons when he came off the bench. Credit: AAP

Catalans Dragons came back from the dead for the third week in a row with a second-half blitz at Perpignan that blew away Hull KR.

Halfback Jordan Abdull bombarded the French side with a series of high bombs to put Rovers 14 points in front at halftime on Saturday.

Yet it was still not enough to resist a late onslaught from the Dragons which took them to a club-record 10 wins in a row with a 32-30 victory.

Les Dracs are becoming the comeback kings of Super League but they were made to fight all the way by a stand-in Rovers side, who stepped onto the aeroplane to France following the withdrawal of Castleford Tigers due to COVID problems.

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Ring-rusty Rovers, who had not played in five weeks, were full value for their 26-12 lead but they seemed to wilt in the heat of a red-hot second-half performance from Catalans.

Rovers were first to score when Jordan Abdull followed up a powerful break by former Parramatta NRL player Brad Takairangi and Jez Litten.

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Abdull brushed off three tackles to cross the line after five minutes and converted his own try.

But loose-forward Dean Hadley dropped the ball on his own 30-metre line and Dragons' second row Matt Whitley gleefully collected to stroll unhindered between the posts.

The Robins hit back on 20 minutes when Shaun Kenny-Dowall mopped up a fumbled high kick by Tom Davies to cross the line.

Yet Sam Tomkins struck back for Les Dracs with a side-stepping dash to the left of the posts for a try, Arthur Mourgue converting to level the scores once more.

Yet the arrival of giant former Canterbury prop Sam Kasiano from the bench seemed to spark the Dragons.

Rovers were 30-18 ahead when the Dragons' comeback began in earnest as Kasiano found Mickael Goudemand with a slick pass on 51 minutes to put the French international second-row over the line.

A string of penalties pegged Rovers back and Mike McMeeken went close, then Tom Davies almost scored before Rovers were forced into a goal-line drop-out.

Catalans turned up the heat when Tomkins drifted left and passed to Ben Jullien who put winger Fouad Yaha in at the left corner, Mourgue's touchline conversion levelling the scores at 30-30 with 15 minutes left.

Mourgue put Catalans ahead for the first time in the game with a 70th-minute penalty as the 30-degree heat began to take its toll on Rovers.

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