Tom Johnstone devastates Wakefield as understrength Catalans still have too much

Catalans Dragons may have been missing eight players including six nailed on starters such as Sam Tomkins but they still had enough to beat a Wakefield side who will be kicking themselves.

It was a game they could have won if not for the errors they made.

As you might expect from a side that always prioritises size, Catalans Dragons enjoyed a lot of the early territory and fired a warning shot when a high kick from Cesar Rouge caused chaos in the Trinity defence until Max Jowitt mopped up.

After standing up to this pressure, Trinity began working the ball wide and started to trapping Catalans in corners. Eventually great footwork from Lewis Murphy earnt a penalty and from it, Wakefield sought to stretch the play.

As they came back left, a nice move saw Mason Lino feed Jowitt into space and his footwork and turn of pace carried him through for the try.

The momentum was with Wakefield at that juncture but slowly but surely the Dragons worked their way back into the contest.

It seemed their way back in had been halted when Kevin Proctor smashed Arthur Mourgue but that seemed to spark the Dragons into life. It led to a top set from the French outfit with an Adam Keighran offload stretching Trinity. A few tackles later, a lovely grubber by Cesar Rouge wasn’t dealt with by Lewis Murphy and Matthieu Laguerre picked up the pieces to score.

Straight from the kick off a few nice offloads carried the Dragons down field and a perfectly weighted grubber kick from Keighran stood up for who else but returning former Wakefield hero Tom Johnstone. Keighran converted for 10-6.

It didn’t stay that way for long as a Manu Ma’u knock on on debut after his move from Hull FC invited pressure on the Dragons. A six again later and Trinity were crossing for an equaliser. A short ball from debutant Morgan Smith at nine allowed Corey Hall to power over from close range.

It was you score we score at Belle Vue as the Dragons crossed from yet another kick. Rouge this time the architect and another try from Johnstone who leapt like a salmon to score.

There was some confusion about whether he had grounded it and some definite angst amongst both squads. Keighran converted.

On the stroke of halftime, Catalans asked yet another question of Trinity with another kick behind but this time Tom Lineham hit it so hard it nearly sailed over the whole crowd.

In the second half, Wakefield weathered the first attack but invited more pressure with a forward pass. If that pass was off the money, Keighran’s was perfect as it allowed Johnstone to cross for a hat-trick at his old stomping ground.

Wakefield squandered their first chance of the second half when Liam Kay was held short after a darting run. A kick straight into touch then ended the pressure.

However, a rare error from Johnstone gave them another crack and a darting run from Lino, a dummy and an offload allowed Matty Ashurst to crash over.

Trinity kept inviting pressure though with errors and a lovely set play saw Laguerre put through half a gap. He smuggled an offload away which landed perfectly for Tom Davies to go in at the corner. Crucially, Keighran added the conversion giving the Dragons an eight point lead.

It was a quick fire double for Davis as he grounded a lovely Mourgue grubber kick.

That appeared to be game over but a great solo try from Lee Gaskell gave Trinity hope as he dummied through.

However, more errors saw the game slip away from them as well as some six agains and a late Cesar Rouge intercept wrapped up the win for the French side as they won 38-24 in front of 4,076 fans.