Wakefield Trinity will be on the next plane to Perpignan this weekend as we head to the Stade Gilbert Brutus to face Catalans Dragons.
Ourselves
A strong showing against Hull FC on Sunday just wasn’t enough as the Airlie Birds took the spoils with a 16-12 victory at the Be Well Support Stadium.
Trinity new boy and starlet Corey Hall opened his account for the season, finishing off a well-worked move after Luke Gale registered the game’s opening score.
Two quickfire tries at the start of the second half gave Trinity much to do, however, despite Tom Johnstone’s acrobatic effort in the 70th minutes
Focus turns to last year’s Grand Finalists, though, and with a strong performance under their belt, Trinity will be hoping to go one better on Saturday.
Catalans Dragons
A 2021 Grand Final repeat opened the Super League season last Thursday and it was this weekend’s opposition who fell to an agonising opening day defeat.
Despite scoring first, Catalans failed to get going at the Totally Wicked Stadium as St Helens showed their dominance.
A four-match ban for Dylan Napa will keep him out of this weekend’s contest, however, with the likes of Sam Tomkins, Josh Drinkwater and Micky McIlorum in the ranks, the Dragons will pose a stern test for Trinity.
The Boss:
Following the defeat in their opening game, here’s what the head coach has to say about the team and the performance, as a whole.
“[I am] pretty optimistic coming away from [Sunday’s game] and doing a review and going through it and cutting it up. I took a lot more heart out of it than I did when I walked away, I was a bit frustrated in the immediate aftermath.
“It was more so at the number of opportunities we had, and we blew, but we weren’t so far off when I had a look at it.
“But, also, how we needed to be a bit more clinical and execute a little bit better. So, this week, we must polish some of that up, get some attention to detail, hopefully, we can get those opportunities.
“As I said to them after the game, our defensive effort and our willingness to really support and work for each other was the most heartening thing, with the exception of the first 15 minutes of the second half, we probably did this for the most of the game”.
In Profile:
Nickname: The Dragons
Colours: White, Red and Gold
Founded: 2000, 22 years ago
Ground: Stade Gilbert Brutus Perpignan, France
Head Coach: Steve McNamara
Competition: Betfred Super League
Match Details:
Who: Catalan Dragons
Where: Stade Gilbert Brutus
When: Saturday, 19th February 2022 (5pm)
Competition: Betfred Super League