McNamara praises Catalans character

Catalans Dragons Head Coach Steve McNamara praised his side’s character after their 38-12 defeat against St Helens at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

The Dragons already came into the game without Tom Davies, Josh Drinkwater and Sam Kasiano, but Sam Tomkins and Samisoni Langi were also late withdrawals.

That meant a younger side than perhaps anticipated took to the field at the Totally Wicked Stadium. Arthur Mourgue dropped to fullback, Romain Franco kept his place on the wing and Cesar Rouge started at halfback. Corentin Le Cam also made his debut off the bench.

McNamara praised his side’s character, particularly after they went 18-0 down inside the opening 20 minutes.

He said: “”It is important with a young team, that we started well. It was actually one of our older heads, Jimmy Maloney who missed a kick to touch.

“From that point, we didn’t see the ball for about 10 minutes, and conceded 18 points. A couple of this etries came bounce passes and ricochets.

“It wasn’t the start we wanted. But I wanted the team to show character regardless today. And we showed that in abundance.”