Walsh kicks Catalans to second successive victory
A perfect kicking display from Luke Walsh helped Catalans Dragons make it two wins out of two at the start of the Betfred Super League.
The former St Helens scrum-half kicked five penalties and converted a try from his half- back partner Richie Myler to earn his side a 16-14 victory over a flat Hull side.
The Airlie Birds twice held the lead after scoring tries through Carlos Tuimavave and Liam Watts but generally lacked a spark in attack despite the encouragement of a 13,541 crowd at the KCOM Stadium.
There was little to choose between the side during a stop-start first half dominated by crunching defence, with Hull losing captain Gareth Ellis with a head knock early in the game - but the Dragons were inspired by non-stop efforts of Greg Bird as they bossed the second half.
Marc Sneyd gave his side a 14th-mnute lead with a penalty after former Hull prop Sam Moa was pulled up for interference in the ruck - but Walsh succeeded with two long-range kicks at goal to give the visitors a 4-2 lead. The Dragons actually took the lead while down to 12 men with loose forward Bird in the sin bin following a team warning from referee Robert Hicks - who awarded 15 penalties in the first half, nine of them against the French club.
The visitors might have scored the first try six minutes before half-time when strong-running centre Krisnan Inu powered his way to the line but Hicks decided the player was held up without feeling the need to resort to the video referee.
French frustration over that decision was made worse two minutes later when Hull second rower Sika Manu produced a delicious offload from the tackle to get centre Tuimavave over for the only try of the first half - and Sneyd's conversion made it 8-4.
It took the visitors just 42 seconds of the second half to regain the lead, however, as Hull were caught cold.
Bird made the initial break and full-back Thomas Bosc continued the move to get Myler scurrying over for a try to which Walsh added the goal to make it 10-8, before adding a third penalty on 50 minutes. The Catalans, who had forward Jason Baitieri placed on report.after coming into contact with the referee, were the better team throughout the third quarter and almost extended their lead when debutant winger Iain Thornley was pushed into touch just short of the line.
Hull drew level against the run of play, prop Liam Watts stealing the ball one-on-one from Inu just 10 metres from the Catalans line to pocket a try.
Sneyd's third goal helped his side go ahead - but the lead changed hands for a fifth time when Baitieri was twice the subject of illegal tackles and Walsh kicked both penalties to take his total of goals to six from six attempts.
Watts was shown a yellow card for the second foul, a dangerous tackle, which helped Catalans see the game out.