Barrie McDermott slams Super League star’s “poor” tackle technique

Another huge game of Super League action has come to a close with Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves, Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR and Hull FC and Castleford Tigers meeting in huge games.

But the game of the round kicked things off on Thursday night as Super League and World Champions St Helens came up short against Catalans Dragons.

The result leaves them six points behind the French side in a damning blow to their hopes of lifting the League Leaders’ Shield.

Either way though, it was certainly one of the best games of the season and a potential Grand Final rehearsal.

It became clear that this game would be one of the matches of the season early on when the first 10 minutes ticked by without an error. It was blow for blow but the Dragons had the better of the ruck and that translated to a two point lead via a Adam Keighran penalty.

The Dragons would then add to their lead when the Saints pressed and kicked crossfield with Keighran claiming the kick and setting Tom Johnstone away to run the length of the field to make it 8-0.

Then the controversial spell of the game as Saints received a number of penalties as they turned the screw against the Dragons and eventually Mark Percival was well placed to claim a lovely grubber kick to make it 8-6.

The Dragons could have re-established their lead with another try as they broke clear but Sam Tomkins was left frustrated when an offload was given as forward.

However, the Dragons would get themselves further ahead in the second half when a lovely set play put Matt Ikuvalu in at the corner as he saw off some cover defence to go in at the corner.

It would then be a case of scrambling defence from the Dragons as they tried to hold out. Will Hopoate went close but in the end it was Lewis Dodd who went over at the end of a lovely passing move to set up a grand stand finish.

In the end though Catalans clung on to a brilliant win.

It was a great game but a difficult one for the officials as you would expect in a fiery affair.

There were some big 50/50 calls and both sides will feel aggrieved by some.

At halftime, Jon Wilkin claimed that Steve McNamara would be “unhappy with the officials” after he felt Saints got “lucky” with some “tough calls” against the Dragons whilst Jenna Brooks revealed that McNamara was “angry” at the break and spoke to the match commissioner.

At the end though it was St Helens unhappy with Bill Arthur claiming Saints fans were booing off the officials at the end.

They likely felt like they should have had a penalty at the end for a strip from Romain Navarrete.

That wasn’t the only controversial moment Navarrete was involved in. He also caught Jonny Lomax high in the second half as Lomax looked to cut inside of the Dragons cover defence.

The former Wigan prop was slammed by Barrie McDermott for his “poor technique.”

Last week, Navarrete was fined by the match review panel. It will be interesting if they take any action against this.

Liam Moore didn’t on the field perhaps because initial contact came on the shoulder of Lomax.