Ryan Hall scored twice for Leeds as they fought back to win in France

Leeds went level with League leaders St Helens by ending the Dragons' seven-match unbeaten run in front of the French team's biggest-ever crowd.

Lee Smith opened the scoring before the Dragons hit back through Cyril Stacul, Olivier Elima and Sebastien Raguin.

Ryan Hall narrowed the gap before the break, with Rob Burrow adding another for Leeds straight after the restart.

Elima bagged another before Danny McGuire, Ali Lauitiiti, Scott Donald and Hall scored to secure Leeds's win.

The visit of Leeds drew 9,880 spectators to the Stade Gilbert Brutus, and no sooner had Smith put the Rhinos ahead than the Dragons demonstrated just why they were unbeaten in seven games.

Their first try came after good work by Thomas Bosc and Clint Greenshields, when they made the most of Hall's knock-on to send Stacul over in the corner.

Hall was at fault again five minutes later as Casey McGuire's towering kick eluded his grasp and Elima took advantage to score.

Bosc then made it three conversions out of three when Raguin crossed for the Dragons' third try, but it was then Raguin's failure to deal with McGuire's kick to the wing which let in Hall for his first try.

Burrow found a hole in the home defence to give Leeds an ideal start to the second half, but another Hall blunder allowed Elima to go through under the posts for his second try.

Then it was Elima's turn to make a costly error, losing the ball on the halfway line, and from the resulting scrum Burrow set up a chance for McGuire to score.

Lauitiiti's try, set up and converted by Kevin Sinfield, put Leeds in front for the first time since the opening minutes.

Donald's 70-yard dash, avoiding three challenges, produced the try of the match, before Sinfield's late drop-goal and Hall's second try of the match wrapped up the victory.

Leeds coach Brian McClennan:

"We showed a lot of character against a very tenacious side who are doing some terrific things over here.

"I have full respect for them and they made it very tough but we hung in there. Scotty Donald's brilliance on a kick return was a very good effort and we're extremely pleased with the outcome.

"This is a very, very important win although there is a long way to go in this competition. We've ticked some boxes over the last couple of weeks but we've still got a lot to do."

Catalans Dragons: Greenshields, Murphy, Wilson, Raguin, Pelo, Bosc, McGuire, Chan, Gorrell, Elima, Croker, Mounis, Carlaw.
Replacements: Guisset, Casty, Quintilla, Touxagas.

Leeds: Smith, Hall, Toopi, Senior, Donald, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Diskin, Peacock, Ellis, Jones-Buchanan, Sinfield.
Replacements: Lauitiiti, Scruton, Kirke, Ablett.