Thomas Bosc scored twice for Catalans Dragons against Leeds
Leeds suffered their second successive defeat with a 46-16 loss to Catalans at Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan.
The hosts piled on eight tries in front of their fans as Krisnan Inu and Thomas Bosc both crossed for two tries apiece, while Scott Dureau contributed 10 points with his boot.
The Rhinos scored three tries of their own, through Ryan Hall, Danny McGuire and Joel Moon, but they came too late to have any influence on the game.
Leeds are still top of the Super League Super 8s table after starting the game with a points difference 90 better than that of Wigan, but the loss will further dent the momentum they had built up on their way to the semi-finals.
Catalans opened the scoring through an intercept from Dureau, who ran most of the field before passing the ball to Bosc for his first try of the day, which he converted himself.
Dureau took over the kicking duties when Inu collected the ball from a high kick in the in-goal area, and controlled it well enough to dot down, making it 12-0 at the beginning of the second quarter.
Inu's juggling was bettered by Todd Carney in the 31st minute, as he took several grabs at the ball before catching it on the ground for an 18-0 lead after the Dureau conversion, which the Dragons took into the break.
The home side soon stretched their lead in the second period after a superb pass in midfield from Carney found Elliott Whitehead who took the ball right up to the Leeds line. Two quick plays led to two offloads in the tackle in the final movement, with the last pass giving Bosc his second try of the afternoon.
There were then two tries in quick succession for Catalans, the first coming when Dureau put a kick into the in-goal area, which was fielded by Inu on the bounce for his second, while the other was quick thinking from Carney, who plucked the ball from a Leeds knock on and passed behind his back to Jordan Sigismeau for a run-in try from inside his own half.
Hall then opened the scoring for Leeds with his try at the start of the fourth quarter, with McGuire and Moon adding theirs inside the last 10 minutes, but Jeff Lima and Whitehead both touched down to give the Dragons a convincing win in France.
