Super League champions Leeds produced a perfect first 40 minutes to ensure a return to winning ways, 36-16 against Catalans Dragons, and moved to within two points of faltering leaders St Helens.

The Rhinos went into the penultimate fixture of the Magic Weekend with just two wins from their previous seven league and cup matches but emphatically snuffed out any talk of a crisis with a brilliant first-half display that killed the game off.

Powerful winger Ryan Hall scored two tries, one of them a spectacular 70-metre effort straight from a restart, to take his tally for the season to 12 and help put his side into an unassailable 30-0 interval lead.

The Dragons, who lost captain Greg Bird through injury at half-time, hit back to restore their pride but still finished a well-beaten side.

The Rhinos, who relegated Danny McGuire to a rare spot on the bench, gave a first start to hooker Danny Buderus and the former Australia international certainly sharpened up the Leeds attack with his organisation around the ruck.

Yet there was little hint of the carnage to come in a lively start by the Catalans in which Adam Mogg caught the eye despite unusually playing at scrum-half in his first game back after a month's absence with hamstring trouble.

The Dragons also had Bird back into the side following his return from Australia, where he was convicted for assault, but he looked to be still feeling the effects of either jet lag or the abductor injury he suffered on his last appearance a fortnight earlier.

Either way, he failed to appear for the start of the second half and could now be facing another spell on the sidelines.

The signs were ominous for the French side when Leeds right winger Scott Donald went 60 metres to the line after only six minutes only to have the try disallowed by video referee Ben Thaler for a knock-on.

There was no doubt about the first score three minutes later, though, when Hall outjumped his opposite number Vincent Duport to touch down Rob Burrow's high kick and captain Kevin Sinfield kicked the first of six goals.

The clinical look to the Rhinos attack was illustrated when Buderus broke through to send Burrow over and when England captain Jamie Peacock took Sinfield's inside pass to crash over.

The Catalans lost 42-14 at Headingley earlier this year and their defensive weaknesses were further exposed when second rower Jamie Jones-Buchanan was put through a gap by Luke Burgess and full-back Brent Webb was in support to claim a superb try.

Even that long-range effort was eclipsed in the very next play when Leeds moved the ball wide from the restart and second rower Ali Lauitiiti's pass out of the tackle left Hall with a clear 70-metre sprint to the line.

At 30-0, the Dragons were facing another humiliation but they got a lucky break just 27 seconds into the second half when substitute Kane Bentley snaffled a stray Leeds pass and went 20 metres for a try.

That breathed new life into the Dragons and they added a second try when Mogg sent front-row forward Olivier Elima charging to the line, with Gregory Mounis landing both conversions.

The Catalans came from 26-0 down to beat Bradford in the Challenge Cup but Leeds ended any chance of a repeat on 66 minutes when Donald intercepted a sloppy pass by Elima and cantered 30 metres for the clinching try.

But the Frenchmen at least had the final say when hooker Casey McGuire grabbed a consolation try a minute from the end.