Huddersfield Giants' Danny Brough rose from his sick bed to inspire the 12-man Giants to a hard-fought triumph in the south of France.

Despite the 53rd-minute sending-off of Luke Robinson for an off-the-ball challenge on Morgan Escare with the hosts holding a slender 16-14 lead at the time, the visitors held on to secure a magnificent 10th victory of the campaign to keep the pressure on Super League XVIII leaders Wigan.

But it was a success that so nearly had to be earned without inspirational goalkicking half-back Brough.

A virus picked up from his young family meant the 30-year-old had to spend the eve of the contest on a drip.

By the time the game had started, Brough was back firing on all cylinders and paving the way to another top Super League XVIII victory.

The Giants dominated most of the opening period, but still found themselves 10-8 down at the break.

Their first try came within two minutes after the Dragons had made an error from the kick-off.

From the subsequent scrum, play was taken to the home side's tryline for Danny Brough's grubber kick to find Joe Wardle to touch down, although too far out for his captain to add the conversion.

That lead should have been extended mid-way through the half when Jermaine McGillvary broke away and held onto the ball rather feed the supporting Shaun Lunt for a walk-in.

Leroy Cudjoe also nearly scored, but the video referee ruled he failed to ground the ball after showing great strength to get over the tryline.

However, the visitors weren't to be denied in the 32nd minute.

Good approach play caught the Dragons on the back foot and Brough took full advantage by looping a long pass to Aaron Murphy to stroll over.

Again Brough was unable to add the extras.

But the game took a dramatic turn in the last four minutes of the half as Catalan crossed for two tries to take a lead they hardly deserved.

First, Jean-Philippe Baile showed good strength to plant the ball down and two minutes later Morgan Escare's break on halfway opened the defence for Eloi Pelissier to finish off.

Thomas Bosc added the conversion to the second score and the host had nudged ahead for the first time.

And the Dragons maintained the momentum at the start of the second half as they struck within two minutes of the restart, with Leon Pryce's deft kick putting Zeb Taia over for a try, converted by Bosc to make it 16-8.

At that stage, the visitors looked to be struggling - although Brough had other ideas.

With play deep inside Giants territory, the half-back cleverly chipped into open space, re-gathered and fed Brett Ferres, who raced clear before feeding Wardle to grab his second.

Brough was able to convert, the deficit was cut to two points, and the Giants looked to have steadied the ship.

But when Robinson was given his marching orders, it looked as if any fightback could be over.

However, with Bosc failing to add the extras from the subsequent penalty and Damian Blanch denied a 57th-minute try for a forward pass, Huddersfield were handed renewed hope.

And on the hour mark, things were looking far brighter.

Great work from the lively Lunt opened up the space for the industrious Scott Grix to race through.

His initial attempted pass to Cudjoe was knocked back by a Dragons defender into the in-goal area, Kevin Larroyer made a mess of clearing the ball and the alert England centre took full advantage to ground the ball for Brough to land the touchline conversion. It was now 20-16 to Huddersfield.

Catalan struck back four minutes later when Frederic Vaccari took advantage of a stretched defence to score in the corner and level the scores.

But despite being a man down, the Giants finished the stronger.

A Brough penalty with 10 minutes remaining nudged his side back in front, before another Catalan error paved the way for the decisive 78th-minute score.

Brough's relieving kick downfield was fumbled by Escare 15m from his own line and, from the subsequent scrum, the position was created for Lunt to plunge over from acting half-back in typical style.

Brough's conversion opened the gap to eight points and a top triumph was secured.