SAM TASTIC England ace guides his Dragons to ‘ugly’ victory

JAKE CONNOR’S licence to thrill has got under-achievers Hull dreaming of becoming heavyweight contenders.

FC have flattered to deceive in recent years but new coach Brett Hodgson looks to have found a winning formula.

And leading the way for him is maverick full-back Connor, who produced another

SAM TOMKINS helped the unbeaten Dragons survive a late scare – for the second game running.

This fright wasn’t as bad as the drama inflicted on them by Hull

KR last week, with that game going to goldenpoint extra-time.

But on the early evidence, Steve McNamara’s outfit seem to have a real problem about going for the kill after taking a dominant lead.

And England full-back Tomkins said: “We know we need to be more consistent for 80 minutes but sometimes you have to win ugly and that was it.

“It is obvious what we did wrong, as a spine we did not organise well enough and that played into Huddersfield’s hands. But we will learn a lot from that.

“It is important to get a good start in the season. Two wins is good but in both games we had a period where we were pretty scrappy.”

Tomkins was excellent again for the French side and helped them take a deserved 20-6 half-time lead.

But a mixture of their own errors, plus Huddersfield’s determination to clinch their first win, put everything in the balance in the second half.

A Sam Wood try cut the gap to 10 points and only a terrific try-saving tackle by Catalans winger Tom Davies prevented Wood from grabbing a second.

But the Dragons, who blew a 24-point lead last week, dug in defensively and they got a late helping hand from Joe Greenwood.

The Giants forward got his marching orders for a high tackle on Samisoni Langi and their chance of a late rescue act disappeared with him.

Catalans coach McNamara said: “That was very pleasing. To find those being a former full-back and Man of Steel. I am learning off him. He is giving me tips and it seems to be working.”

But Salford already look to have problems under new boss Richard Marshall.

He said: “We were outenthused and our energy levels were low. We’ll learn from adversity.” Hull totally dominated with tries from Andre Savelio, Josh Griffin, Cameron Scott and two from Reynolds. Salford’s only consolation was an effort from Ken Sio, who also scored their only try last week.

FC won’t know the severity of Reynolds’ hamstring injury until midweek. Sneyd came off with a dead leg.