Catalans Dragons 10-36 Warrington Wolves: Highlights, player ratings and talking points

Warrington have breathed new life into their season with a huge surprise win over the high flying Catalans who beat the Champions last week.

It could be a season defining win if they can kick on from here.

Highlights:

Warrington’s fast start
After their poor recent form, Warrington needed a strong start against Catalans and it came courtesy of a lovely move down the left edge with Jake Wardle and Matty Ashton linking well to release the latter. With Catalans cover coming across he did well to find Gareth Widdop who tripped to the tryline picking up an injury as he opened the scoring.

Wardle causing havoc
After creating the opening try, Jake Wardle continued to show that he’s back to his best after swapping with Toby King to join Warrington by crossing for the Wolves try after Samisoni Langi had levelled thing and he continued to cause problems.

Nicholson crowns debut with team try
Matty Nicholson may have scored the try and it was nice to see him get over on his debut, this was a lovely team try and showed what Warrington can do. Traditionally an offloading team, a series of offloads created the space for Matty Nicholson to burrow over.

Thewlis’ pace
Catalans came out in the second half looking to battle back from their 24-6 deficit but in their desperation they gifted a try to Josh Thewlis who darted down field having claimed the ball going the distance to score.

Talking Points:

Things clicking for Williams
I don’t think anyone can question George Williams’ effort in 2022. Go back and look at what some would regard as his worst game against Leeds and you’ll see him run for over 100 metres. But things haven’t fallen for him like his work rate would warrant until today. An understated performance from the Wolves number seven today, he bossed things and laid down the ground work for some exciting attacking opportunities namely for Jake Wardle, speaking of which…

Wardle settling in
Today has shown how effective the swap move which saw Toby King head to Huddersfield and Jake Wardle join Warrington has been. King impressed for Huddersfield today before Jake Wardle looked back to his best for Warrington scoring but causing havoc running wide and weaving in and out of defenders to make break after break.

Wolves subs make impact as they find hidden gem
The chopping and changing in the Warrington middle helped the speed things up on a hot day and get the better of the usually dominant Catalans pack albeit missing a few players. So they can thank the likes of Joe Bullock for that. Another decisive substitute was Riley Dean who filled the void left by Gareth Widdop with ease. It makes you wonder why he hasn’t been playing so far this season? He has a bright future ahead of him.

Catalans miss their big players
Big players by their nature but also in terms of their impact on the team, Catalans were left to rue the suspensions that ravaged their pack which saw them more easily turned round in the middle of the field and saw the Dragons tired out and out paced by the Wolves.

Warrington to make play-off push?
Over the last two days two big teams previously written off have claimed statement wins against in form sides to underline their play-off hopes and show that there is still definite quality in both squads. The teams in question are of course Leeds and Warrington. Don’t be surprised to see them make the play-offs but the question is have the left it too late?

Player Ratings:

Catalans Dragons
29 Sam Tomkins – 6
19 Arthur Romano – 6
20 Tyrone May – 6
3 Samisoni Langi – 6
5 Fouad Yaha – 6
6 Mitchell Pearce – 7
7 Josh Drinkwater – 6
8 Gil Dudson – 6
14 Alrix Da Costa – 6
17 Mickael Goudemand – 6
11 Matt Whitley – 6
15 Benjamin Jullien – 6
13 Ben Garcia – 6
Substitutes
16 Paul Seguier – 6
18 Matthieu Laguerre – 6
21 Corentin Le Cam – 6
27 Joe Chan – 6

Warrington Wolves
6 Gareth Widdop – N/A
22 Josh Thewlis – 8
3 Peter Mata’utia – 7
34 Jake Wardle – 9
5 Matty Ashton – 8
1 Stefan Ratchford – 8
7 George Williams – 9
19 Rob Mulhern – 7
9 Daryl Clark – 7
20 James Harrison – 7
11 Ben Currie – 7
35 Matty Nicholson – 9
14 Jason Clark – 7
Substitutes
15 Joe Bullock – 8
12 Oliver Holmes – 7
27 Riley Dean – 7
33 Thomas Mikaele – 8