Hall gone wrong for star Ryan
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RYAN HALL scored a sensational hat-trick on his return to Super
League – and still ended up as an agonising goldenpoint loser.
The England winger was making his Rovers debut after a terrible two years with Sydney Roosters.
Hall, 33, was injury-hit in the NRL and failed to score, but proved he’s lost none of his killer instinct.
He scored an opportunist first-half try but it seemed to matter little at the time with the Dragons totally dominant.
But the powerhouse flier, who also denied Dragons winger Tom Davies a try, simply refused to let Tony
Smith’s new-look side give up without a fight.
They trailed 28-4 after 50 minutes, thanks to an inspired display by fullback Sam Tomkins.
But suddenly Rovers came to life with a brilliant solo try by Mikey Lewis.
Within two minutes Hall pounced for his second with Jordan Abdul adding his second conversion and the Dragons were rattled.
Rovers continued to get under their skin and
Julien Bousquet did little for the Catalans nerves when he got sin-binned.
The one-man advantage boosted Rovers’ belief even more and minutes later Hall got his hat-trick.
It was his 199th Super League try, levelling with Keith Senior and Paul Wellens, in joint second.
The Dragons had looked certain to win with Tomkins setting up early tries for Fouad Yaha and Matt Whitley with two tries for Mathieu Laguerre and Yaha, and Ben Garcia also touching down.
But three minutes from time George King grabbed another Rovers try, with Abdull converting to level and take it to extra time.
James Maloney then held his nerve to clinch a sensational win. catalanS: Tries: Yaha (2), Whitley, Laguerre, Garcia Goals: Maloney Drop-goal: Maloney hull k r: Tries: Hall (3), Lewis, G King Goals: Abdull (4)