Catalan Dragons 50, Bulls 26

Jarrod Sammut’s four-try haul proved in vain as the Bulls’ dream of making the play-offs finally died in Perpignan this afternoon.

Mick Potter’s men simply had to win to stand any chance of overhauling Wakefield and sneaking into the final play-off spot.

They stormed 10-0 ahead after just six minutes with tries from Michael Platt and Sammut, much to the delight of new owner Omar Khan in the main stand.

But Catalan hit back with four tries in 17 minutes through Clint Greenshields, Vincent Duport, Setaimata Sa and Louis Anderson.

That put the Dragons 22-10 up but Sammut struck twice again before the break to complete his hat-trick and leave the scores finely poised at 22-20 at the half-time interval.

After the break, though, Catalan were utterly dominant and turned up the heat on the Bulls with tries from former Odsal star Steve Menzies, Daryl Millard, Greenshields and Scott Dureau.

The desire and effort shown by Potter’s players could not be faulted and Sammut claimed a late consolation after intercepting an errant pass before Greenshields completed his hat-trick.

But defeat effectively handed the final play-off berth to Wakefield before their match at Salford later this evening had even kicked off.