Catalans Dragons head coach Steve McNamara was left frustrated by the officiating as his side lost 14-13 to St Helens in the south of France.
The Dragons conceded two tries inside the opening 10 minutes of the game a Tristan Sailor touching down twice to give the visitors a comfortable lead. Catalans hit back, though, using the difficult conditions to their advantage.
Tomkins got their first, collecting a wicked bounce from a Tommy Makinson kick to touch down and the full-back got another, cutting back against the grain and through a gap to score. Both sides had tries ruled out in the second half, with a Tomkins penalty being the only score until three drop goals sailed through the sticks in the final 10 minutes.
Jonny Lomax got the decisive one, though, with his side claiming their first win in three. Ultimately, it was an entertaining and closely fought match, but McNamara believes the amount of time the referees, who had a communication issue, spent scrutinising plays took something away from the contest.
“We’ve got to get it right,” McNamara told Sky Sports after the game. “There’s too many stoppages and the referees with the microphones tonight not having communication, I know that can happen, but it’s frustrating.
“I don’t know how many times they watched our disallowed try, it was given as a try and then it seems as if they watched it 20 times until they decided it wasn’t a try. You have to be really definite and quicker on those types of decisions, particularly on a night like tonight.”
On the contest itself, the Catalans Dragons boss said: “I thought it was a really high quality game. I don’t know if you can see on the television back home, it’s ridiculously windy and for what the two teams put out there it was outstanding.
“It was a very good game and I thought we created plenty of opportunities in the first half and fought hard in the second. We had a try disallowed. It was just probably that lapse, in two minutes they scored two tries in the first 10 minutes of the game and that’s what really cost us, so frustrated with that.”
