Warrington Wolves v Catalans Dragons at the Luke Littler Stadium in round two of Super League was a tough encounter for both teams and here’s our verdict as the match unfolded.
Both sides made changes from round 1, with the Wolves switching Stefan Ratchford with Oli Leyland in the halves with George Williams.
Warrington welcomed back second-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon into their starting line-up as well as James Harrison returning to the bench.
Matthieu Laguerre started in the centres for Catalans alongside Nick Cotric as his wing partner.
The Dragons promoted Tevita Pangai Jr and Julian Bousquet as their starting props.
Warrington beat Catalans in another close encounter but Catalans attack improved
For the first 30 minutes, the Wolves and the Dragons were even, in terms of possession and position, with each side having some plays in attack but without any clear-cut chances.
Catalans did go ahead in the third minute with an Arthur Mourgue penalty, following a high shot from Ben Currie on stand-in halfback Cesar Rouge.
Both sides made multiple breaks, Makinson for the Dragons and Ashton for the Wolves, but neither of them made it count.
Catalans attack was better than last week with a tonne of offloads before Warrington got the first score of the night.
Toby King jumped highest following a George Williams last tackle kick to score and a Josh Thewlis conversion made it 6-2.
Following that, it felt like Warrington had a lot more of the ball but their last-play options were often the wrong one.
Just a minute before the half-time hooter, Catalans were in when Laguerre burrowed his way over with three defenders attached to him to make it 6-6 at half-time.
Catalans started the second half brightly with Tommy Makinson getting close and getting his side a goal-line dropout.
However, it was Warrington with the first blood of the second half.
A break from George Williams with an inside pass to Danny Walker gave the Wolves a 12-6 in the 50th minute.
Following a mistake by Cesar Rouge close to the tryline, Jordy Crowther was penalised for shoving Rouge in the face, with referee Liam Rush calling the subsequent coming-together between Crowther, Pangai Jr and their teammates “just handbags”.
Matt Dufty managed to get the next score for Warrington showing some strength to make the scoreline 16-6 in favour of the Wolves.
Laguerre grabbed his and Catalans’ second try of the night after Nick Cotric broke down the left and kicked it inside before Laguerre’s dummy got him over the line.
Mourgue converted Laguerre’s try in the 73rd minute to bring the score back to 18-12.
The Dragons woke up in the final ten minutes but once again, their chances were dropped or the wrong call was made.
There was also a tribute in the 17″ minute, with a minute’s applause for Lilly Day, a member of their women’s side who passed away recently.
Good day for
Warrington as a club. They’ve got a tonne of publicity around this game by renaming their stadium, promoting their Vegas game next week, new brand partnerships and a ticket offer enticing fans to make up for only a small travelling Catalans group.
Bad day for
Catalans spine. Despite their attack looking slightly better than last week, they’re still lacking direction when moving across the field.
They started the season assuming Mourgue and Luke Keary would be partnering in the halves, with Theo Fages and Cesar Rouge as backup options as well as some Sam Tomkins sparkle.
Rouge looked like a bright spark in places but couldn’t make many combinations with Keary to guide Catalans around the park.
Star man
Matthieu Laguerre. Whilst he did get two tries, he looked like he strengthened that side of their attack. The Wolves defence struggled to control all 6″4 of him and he was the one bright spark in an otherwise inconsistent Catalans attack.
Teams for Warrington Wolves v Catalans Dragons
Warrington Wolves: Matt Dufty, Josh Thewlis, Arron Lindop, Toby King, Matty Ashton, George Williams, Oli Leyland, Paul Vaughan, Danny Walker, Luke Yates, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Dan Russell, Ben Currie.
Interchanges: Sam Powell, Jordy Crowther, James Harrison, Joe Philbin.
Catalans Dragons: Arthur Mourgue, Tommy Makinson, Arthur Romano, Matthieu Laguerre, Nick Cotric, Luke Keary, Cesar Rouge, Tevita Pangai Jr, Benjamin Garcia, Julian Bousquet, Bayley Sironen, Elliot Whitehead, Oliver Partington.
Interchanges: Tariq Sims, Alrix Da Costa, Paul Seguier, Jordan Dezaria.
