Wakefield Trinity relegation woes worsen after Catalans Dragons defeat

Wakefield Trinity hosted Catalans Dragons at Belle Vue tonight with Trinity knowing they must pick up at least one win from their final three top avoid relegation, meanwhile Catalans still had a shot at beating St Helens and Wigan Warriors to a League Leaders Shield in spite of recent losses.

Steve McNamara’s side had lost their last two with a heavy defeat at home to Wigan being followed up by a tense loss to Hull KR, but a third win over Trin this season would push at least keep them level or possible ahead of their rivals.

As for Trinity it’s been a case of ‘must-win’ for a while and whilst they had pulled level in the relegation battle against Castleford at one point, the loss to the Tigers and those since see them two points shy with just six to play for.

Tom Johnstone returns from a HIA and also to face his old club whilst Trinity are without Will Dagger who suffered following a tackle from St Helens’ Konrad Hurrell.

📋𝙏𝙀𝘼𝙈 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎

Your Trinity squad to face @DragonsOfficiel.

Jowitt & Kelepi 🔙@WDHcarelink pic.twitter.com/X0BZhNSxfN

— Wakefield Trinity (@WTrinityRL) September 8, 2023

Kelepi Tanginoa and Max Jowitt both returned for Trinity with Dave Fifita starting from the bench in what could be his last game for the club.

📋 Le 𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈 𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐞́𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 de Steve McNamara pour affronter @WTrinityRL #Dragons🐲 pic.twitter.com/L9iEoOgvxh

— Dragons Catalans (@DragonsOfficiel) September 8, 2023

Catalans named a strong side that saw Sam Tomkins move into the halves in the absence of Tyrone May.

It was the former Trinity man Tom Johnstone who opened the scoring and he did so inside the first ten minutes when he scooped up a grubber kick before grounding.

Trinity forced a goal line drop out in their response but couldn’t make anything of it and they were punished on the 15 minute mark when Adam Keighran scored a try of his own, forcing his way through to double the lead to 12-0.

Both teams defended their try lines well but Sam Eseh saw yellow and a sin bin before the half hour mark which granted Catalans licence to turn the screw against 12 men.

That forced back to back goal line drop outs but a Dragons knock on saw them survive and they did so through till half time, in part thanks to a brilliant Mason Lino defensive effort on Sam Tomkins.

Trinity had good territory early in the second half but could do nothing with it, perhaps highlighting the key problem all season with their blunt attack.

Three more consecutive sets approaching the hour mark came to nothing and that was punished almost immediately with Tom Davies latching onto a Mitchell Pearce kick to extend the lead to 16-0.

An Adam Keighran penalty made the margin 18-0 in the 68th minute, allowing a final ten minutes for Wakefield to effectively save their season.

It looked like Kelepi Tanginoa has pulled one back but they were instead pulled back for a penalty against Catalans, Trinity receiving the ball again.

Trinity did manage to get on the board though and it was Tanginoa this time, but it couldn’t be converted leaving them to fall to 18-4 down.

Miraculously though Trinity managed to score again before the hooter with Lee Kershaw doing the length of the field to make it 18-10 but it was too little too late for Wakefield.

With Castleford leading Hull FC at the time of Trinity’s loss being concluded, it would look to be season over for Wakefield as they’d be left four points behind with just four to play for.