Castleford Tigers will have to face a unique Catalans Dragons preparation ahead of their Super League fixture this Friday night.
For the first time in 2022, the French side are able to stay in the UK for the full week after playing Sunday with a Friday night fixture to come.
In short, it will allow Steve McNamara to look at his players in cooler surroundings, help the team bond and focus them on Friday night without having to worry about travel and the potential obstacles concerned with that.
McNamara, whose Catalans side overcame Wakefield Trinity on Sunday in a 20-16 victory, revealed the news in his post-match press conference.
“We will stay Sunday until Friday as this fixture list allows us to do that,” McNamara said.
“It will be good to come over here and be great for the team. The weather is suffocating in the south of France.
“It’s constant heat and it does play its part in the fatigue of our players.”
McNamara also confirmed that the Dragons will be based at Weetwood Hall in Leeds.
With Catalans down to the bare bones against Trinity, the former England boss hailed the win as one of the best in the history of the club.
“I think that’s one of the best wins in the history of the Catalans Dragons,” McNamara continued.
“We don’t shout too much about it but there were 13 starting players missing.
“We actually only finalised the 17 yesterday – Dean Whare was 50/50 and we decided not to play him, so the start of the game was important to us.
“Fouad’s (Yaha) grandma died during the week – who had raised him – and the same with Cesar Rouge whose grandad passed away during the week.
“For a team to come together like that and play like we did with the personnel missing was huge.”
