If there was ever a day for rugby league’s most successful expansion club to lay down a marker for the Super League title, perhaps it was today. With IMG announcing more about their plans to revolutionise the sport, and expansion clubs at the heart of that aspiration for growth, there arguably wasn’t a better time for Catalans Dragons to write their own slice of history in the process.
For the first time since arriving in Super League in 2006, Catalans have started a season with four successive league victories. Throw in the fact that this latest triumph – their first at Wigan since 2011 and only their third on this ground – was achieved in miserable conditions, the kind that Dragons seemed incapable of winning in just a few years ago, and it is difficult not to be impressed. As starts go, this is as encouraging as you’re likely to find.
It was also achieved amid a significant injury crisis with arguably their most important players, including the England captain, Sam Tomkins, and their star half-back, Mitchell Pearce, injured. They lost two more players to injury during this contest, yet still came up on the right side of the result. It may only be four wins, and Steve McNamara was determined to remain grounded post-match, but there are some very exciting early signs.
“You won’t get me mentioning anything like that,” McNamara said when asked about Catalans’ title prospects. “We could have lost a couple of those games but our discipline kept us in those games. Tonight against quality opposition, it was good enough without being spectacular given the conditions.”
There is no doubting Catalans handled the wintry conditions better than Wigan, a sentence that almost defies belief given what weather the Dragons are used to at home in Perpignan. With heavy snow throughout, errors were always going to be decisive. It was Wigan who made more mistakes in crucial moments, and their opponents took full advantage. They broke the deadlock when Manu Ma’u crossed from close range, with Adam Keighran converting before adding a penalty to make it 8-0. With the Warriors wasting a number of good chances to reduce the deficit, Catalans made them pay again when Arthur Romano finished a smart move to extend their lead to 12.
A penalty from Harry Smith narrowed the gap to 10 at the break, but it was clear by then that Wigan were having an off night. “Our execution let us down,” the Warriors’ coach, Matt Peet, said. “In big games against good teams, those are very crucial. It was a frustrating evening.” They have only won two of their first four games and, unlike Catalans, are still yet to properly get going in 2023. The Dragons punished them for that, even with such a glut of talent at home in France.
Ma’u was sent to the sin-bin shortly before half-time, allowing Wigan to strike as Harry Smith crossed before converting his own try, but when Ma’u returned so did Catalans’ defensive structure. They didn’t concede another try all evening, although a second penalty from the boot of Smith clawed the gap back to two and set up a compelling final quarter.
However, Catalans struck at exactly the right time once again. As the game entered the final 15 minutes, Ma’u collected a clever midfield kick from Tyrone May before rounding Jai Field to give Keighran a simple conversion to open up an eight-point lead. With conditions so poor and errors aplenty, that moment always felt like it was going to be pivotal.
Wigan threw more at Catalans in the closing minutes to try set up a grandstand finale, but you always felt the Dragons, with their newfound resilience, were going to hang on. Nothing is won in March, of course, but the early signs are encouraging for the men from Perpignan.
