Steve McNamara defends Catalans Dragons’ Super League status with passionate message

Catalans Dragons head coach Steve McNamara has defended his side’s Super League status amidst murmurs that rivals clubs want rid of the French side.

With much of rugby league in the UK under review at present, particularly due to the club-commissioned Strategic Review that Nigel Wood will lead, there have been suggestions that some English clubs are growing discontented with Catalans in Super League.

Questions of what they bring to the table in terms of travelling support have been asked, as well as the state of the French game, however, Steve McNamara has been a passionate defender.

After his side’s 38-18 win over Huddersfield Giants, he once again defended his side with the Englishman laying out the facts around the club’s impressive youth system.

One of those young players scored on debut with winger Leo Darrelatour getting a chance in the absence of Nick Cotric, whilst full-back Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet deputised on account of Sam Tomkins’ injury.

Steve McNamara defends Catalans Dragons’ Super League status with passionate message

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Speaking post-match to Sky Sports, McNamara had praised some of his forwards with five of the six try-scorers coming from the forward pack, however, he quickly moved the focus to his young French stars.

“I want to give a mention to Leo Darrelatour who is a that kid’s come in there on the wing as a part-time player,” McNamara said.

“He only trained twice with us this week. He works in Bernard’s factory every week during the day, starting at four or five o’clock in the morning so he’s done extremely well to come in, jump on the wing and do a good job for us.”

He also added: “Guillermo at full-back, obviously, it was a big ask of him to fill Sam Tomkins’ boots today, so he’s come and done well, kicked all his goals. It’s actually very encouraging for us in French rugby league.”

With both young guns starring, McNamara made sure to highlight another key stat surrounding the club’s homegrown talents.

He explained: “There’s a criticism of us in some courts there in terms of what we’re doing but we’re the club with the most players in the competition, barring Salford who played in the academy team in that first game against St Helens, with the most home-grown players that have played first grade this season and that’s a real credit to the club and a credit to the young players.

“There’s a couple more waiting to wings, there’s another three definitely who will make debuts this season and we’re most looking forward to seeing them play.”

McNamara underlines Catalans Dragons message

Having spoken previously about the questions over Catalans, the Dragons boss gave another impassioned speech about what the club bring to Super League.

He said: “I made my comments pretty clear last week after the game last week when asked about Salford’s situation. We feel sorry for them and of course you have sympathy but in reality we have to look after our own backyard.

“Catalans and the way we’ve come into the competition, what we’ve done, what we’ve brought to everybody involved in the game is sensational and for me it’s got to be a priority, not something that might be considered to be pushed out.”

On some of the critics, he explained: “They talk about one of the reasons we came in was to improve the French game but it’s very hard for one Super League team to improve the whole national team and I’d argue to say that, although England have improved, they’ve still not beat Australia. France might have improved but they’ve still not beat England. It’s relevant to everybody in each and every setting.

“It’s like saying to Huddersfield that they’re responsible for making the old England team better. Now back in the day we maybe agreed to that, maybe needed to move on from that, but look there’s a whole lot that we offer to this game in French Rugby League and there’s nobody who will stand up for it more than myself right now.”