Dragons edge out brave Leigh
Catalan Dragons survived a scare to edge into the fifth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup after a 22-16 win over Championship pacesetters Leigh.
The Super League side were stunned as Ian Millward's previously unbeaten Centurions stormed ahead at Leigh Sports Village with early tries from Adam Higson and Tommy Goulden. They threatened more but the Dragons eventually hit back through Damien Blanch and Jean-Philippe Baile.
Catalan inched into a decisive lead with further scores from Cyril Stacul and Ian Henderson. Stuart Donlan pulled one back as Leigh maintained the fight until the end in a performance that reflected well on both themselves and Millward, their former St Helens and Wigan coach recently linked with Salford.
In the other Friday night game Harlequins predictably ended an eight game Super League winless run with an emphatic 70-0 victory against rank outsiders Gateshead Thunder.
The Tyneside outpost club lost every game bar one last season and have yet to beat professional opposition in 2011. But the Co-op Championship One bottom club gave as good as they got in the opening quarter and trailed only to Oliver Wilkes' converted try.
A plucky Thunder completed their sets and were faultless with ball in hand until the half-hour mark, Quins then finally hitting their straps with four tries in eight minutes and they never looked back, with Tony Clubb scoring three of their 13 tries.
