Catalans Dragons head coach Steve McNamara gave a blunt assessment of his team’s Challenge Cup win and confirmed that star full-back Sam Tomkins has suffered an injury blow.
Les Dracs saw full-back Sam Tomkins limp off in a performance that saw them limp into the hat for the Round Four draw as they struggled against a resolute Halifax Panthers.
In the end, the Super League side won 14-0 but six of those points came in the final 2 minutes as a fatigued and beaten Halifax showed a lapse of concentration when Cesar Rouge danced through.
By the half-time hooter, there were two key problems for Steve McNamara – the score being 0-0 and Sam Tomkins having limped off.
Following a kick chase in the 39th minute, the veteran full-back seemed to slip and immediately raised his hand in a signal to the bench before walking straight off the pitch with a physio.
He then did not return in the second half and it’s now been confirmed by McNamara that Tomkins has fallen foul of yet another injury.
McNamara confirms Sam Tomkins injury as ‘horrible’ display assessed
The game was broadcast on the Sportsman Rugby League YouTube channel and McNamara spoke live at the end of the game, giving huge praise to Fax.
“Credit to them, they were great. They really were,” the Catalans boss said.
“We made that many basic errors in the first half that it was incredible but some of that was down to them as well.
“Although they didn’t win on the scoreboard today, they certainly did their club proud.”
Asked more about the high error count, McNamara admitted: “It was horrible.
“It’s not the way you want to start the season, it’s not the way you want your team to play. It’s completely the opposite of what we wanted to do and what we said we would do so we need to look at that.”
They’ll now host Hull FC in Round One of Super League but they will likely do so without Sam Tomkins who McNamara confirmed had suffered a hamstring injury.
The Dragons’ coach said: “He picked an injury up right at the end of the first half, he picked a hamstring injury up so it’s disappointing for Sam.”
In his final assessment, he added: “A tough test for us, there are lots of things that we wouldn’t want to do in Round One that we did today so maybe it’s a good thing that it’s out of our system.
“We’ll certainly have to play a lot better next week but we will do, I’m sure of that.”
