Croft grabs hat-trick as Leeds beat Catalans

Croft grabs hat-trick as Leeds beat CatalansImage source, swpix.comImage caption, Brodie Croft will leave Leeds Rhinos for Warrington Wolves next seasonByAndrew AloiaBBC Sport EnglandPublished11 July 2026, 22:05 BST4 CommentsUpdated 10 minutes agoBetfred Super LeagueCatalans Dragons (0) 6Try: Tison Goal: SextonLeeds Rhinos (16) 28Tries: Newman, Croft 3, Miller Goals: Connor 4Brodie Croft scored a hat-trick to help Super League pacesetters Leeds Rhinos restore their four-point lead at the summit with victory against a stubborn Catalans Dragons side in Perpignan.Croft grabbed the first of his treble of tries in between efforts from Harry Newman and Lachlan Miller, which put Leeds 16-0 up at half-time.The half-back went on to grab two more tries in 11 second-half minutes to ensure an ultimately comfortable victory in the south of France.Ugo Tison did well to fend off one tackler and hold off two more defenders as he crashed over in the final seconds of the game to ensure Catalans avoided being held pointless at home.Croft's try-scoring exploits at the Stade Gilbert Brutus, which took his try-scoring tally for 20 for the season, came on a night when there was huge expectation on the free-scoring Maika Sivo, who had a Super League record in his sights.A try against Dragons would have seen the Fijian equal the Super League record for tries scored in consecutive games, but he was starved of chances and had his scoring spree stopped at 10 matches.Edenn Rogers-Smith was brought in for his debut as Catalans head coach John Cartwright made four changes to the Dragons side that started in the heavy 60-18 defeat by French rivals Toulouse last week. While Catalans were much improved for the visit of the league-leading Rhinos, a third-straight defeat leaves them eighth in the table, six points adrift of the top six, and at risk of losing touch with the play-off places.Newman was perfectly positioned to give Leeds the ideal start, getting on the end of a probing Jake Connor gr...