Super League Dream Team: Sam Tomkins (Catalans Dragons), Tom Davies (Catalans Dragons), Jack Welsby (St Helens), Mark Percival (St Helens), Ken Sio (Salford Red Devils), Jonny Lomax (St Helens), James Maloney (Catalans Dragons), Alex Walmsley (St Helens), Kruise Leeming (Leeds Rhinos), Sam Kasiano (Catalans Dragons), Liam Farrell (Wigan Warriors), Kane Linnett (Hull KR), Morgan Knowles (St Helens).
Many congratualtions to our players who made the 2021 Dream Team.
With the Oneills kit and leisurewear having been on sale on both sides of Le Manche for months now, its become apparent that the Dragons are changing supplier.
We had been given some insight that Oxen sports would take over for the 2022 season but it appears that its not as cut and dried as we throught.
This image from the xii Catalans page doesn't really give us too much of a clue with both Errea and Macron teamwear shown here and with the crest.
To add to the intrigue the team are shown wearing the kit of Neo Logik, a company we seem to remember having connections to "Super" Jason Baitieri.
The St Esteve Elite 1 team still have a full range in their Oneills store so it looks like whatever deal is being done its for the 2022 Superleague season as the start.
We will keep you posted on what we see or hear.
A second defeat on the bounce for the League Leaders Shield winners who lost this tight encounter with Wigan at the DW Stadium.
The truth is that this was a decent result in a close match and at a ground where we are usually battling to keep the score under 50.
Wigan Warriors (6) 12
T : Willie Isa, James McDonnell
G : Zak Hardaker (2)
Dragons Catalans (0) 8
T : Tom Davies, Matthieu Laguerre
G :
Wigan : Hardaker, Bibby, Isa, Gildart, Halsall, Smith, Hastings, Bullock, Shorrocks, Clubb, Pearce-Paul, McDonnell, Partington
Subs : Byrne, Clark, Havard, O'Neill
Dragons : S.Tomkins, Davies, Langi, Whare, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dudson, McIlorum, Bousquet, Whitley, McMeeken, J. Tomkins
Subs : Mourgue, Goudemand, Garcia, Kasiano
Stadium : DW Stadium
Referee : James Child
Yellow card : Sam Kasiano
As delighted as I am that Catalans won the hub cap, the comedown has centered on whether its actually good for the game or not.
On the night we were given the shield social media was lit with people wondering why the games UK based administrators weren't engaging in the level of Tweets and Instagram posts that they would have if Leeds, Wigan or St Helens had won the division.
Whether it was a trick of the camera or not, Ken Davy's face has become the iconic image of the Dragons Magic Weekend comeback and securing of league leadership.
The latest proposals from former Northampton RLFC supremo Ralph Rimmer has focused on the UK and its M62 based clubs with Catalan Media reporting that no French based journalists were briefed or invited to this presentation of the games future.
The Leigh owner Derek Beaumont is desperately trying to save his club with a bid to prevent Toulouse getting promoted to add more colour and a credible derby for Catalans (sorry London!) in the top division.
The world feels like its against us at the moment and with murmurings already about the likely loss of revenue from an Old Trafford Grand Final featuring our club, cynical James is expecting us to get refereed out of the play offs.
We have won the league leaders shield along with the Challenge Cup but that's enough now and boardrooms across the North of England will be holding meetings to ensure that we go no further with our inroads in the Super League. It sounds fanciful but this is rugby league.
So as much as I am loving life as a Catalans fan at the moment, I have genuine and grave fears for the future of the game and its current set up.
In fact this season I have watched way more NRL than Superleague along with the ERDS touch rugby series that a number of people I train and play with have been involved in.
It was a case of after the Lord Mayors show as Catalans were beaten at home on the night the League Leaders Shield was presented.
With a few rotations to the team there was still a great start for the home club who roared into a two score lead backed by jubilant fans.
But the visitors wouldn't go away and were only 18-12 adrift at the interval.
The Catalans did not score in the second half whilst the visitors went over three more times to get a 30-18 win.
Well done to them.
The evening was dampened but not destroyed as the club presented former players like Remi Casty and Greg Bird who had left the club during lockdown before getting their hands on the silverware.
Naturally there will be fans of other clubs in the Superleague who find great amusement in the fact we are celebrating this as an achievement, but with last rites being read to a game on its arse by some, we can be part of the solution for rugby league and not the problem.
Dragons Catalans (18) 0
T : Matt Whitley 2, Matthieu Laguerre
G : James Maloney 3
Huddersfield Giants (12) 0
T : Josh Jones, Louis Senior, Jack Cogger, Olly Ashall-Bott, Matthew English
G : Oliver Russell 5
Dragons : Mourgue, Davies, Laguerre, Whitley, Franco, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dudson, Rougé, Goudemand, Jullien, Le Cam, Baitieri
Subs : Séguier, Cozza, Dezaria, Brochon
Huddersfield : Ashall-Bott, Cudjoe, Wardle, Leutele, Senior, Russell, Cogger, Wilson, Peats, English, Jones, McQueen, Lawrence
Subs : Greenwood, Trout, Pryce, Peteru
Stadium : Stade Gilbert Brutus
Referee : Tom Grant
Yellow Card : Chris McQueen
St Helens (18) 30
T : Tommy Makinson, Lachlan Coote, Sione Mata’utia 2, Morgan Knowles
G : Lachlan Coote 5
DG :
Catalans Dragons (6) 31
T : Sam Tomkins, Julian Bousquet, Dean Whare, Gil Dudson, Sam Kasiano
G : James Maloney 5
DG : James Maloney
Team sheet
Dragons : S.Tomkins, Davies, Whare, Langi, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dezaria, McIlorum, Bousquet, Whitley, McMeeken, Goudemand
Subs : Mourgue, Dudson, J.Tomkins, Kasiano
St Helens : Coote, Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace, Welsby, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Mata’utia, Bentley, Knowles
Subs : Amor, Paasi, Batchelor, Wingfield
Stadium: St James’ Park
Referee: Liam Moore
Sin bin : Mark Percival, Sam Kasiano, Agnatius Paasi
It might not mean much to some people, but the Catalans Dragons have secured the Superleague League Leaders shield with a stunning comeback against St Helens at the Magic Weekend in Newcastle.
St James' Park had not been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Dracs over the years and at 30-18 down inside the last 10 minutes all looked lost here.
But we do have previous against Saints. Ask Daryl Millard and Scott Dureau.
One try back was seen as consolation, two as putting up a good fist of it. Then Super Sam Kasiano lept like Niall Quinn in his pomp (wrong sport and he was Sunderland not Newcastle, granted) to get us back to within 2 points.
Jimmy Maloney then slotted over the conversion and we were off to next point wins.
After a couple of attempts that glorious moment came when Maloney slotted it over and the boys in grey were victorious.
After taking the Challenge Cup out of the UK a couple of years ago, we now hope that we've got started on SLexit.
(That excellent pun is copywrite, don't nick it)
The play offs are a different matter and the cynics already seem to think we will get Thalered out of a grand final as the one thing the competition needs to save it is bums on seats.
That's for another day, let's enjoy the hubcap for what it is, but also as a pretty decent achievement all things considered.
Coaches
Cyril Gossard
Vincent Duport
Players
Robin Brochon
Louis Carré
Loan Castano
Tiaki Chan
Enzo Colchero
Damien Dauset
Enzo Delbe
Valentin Fernandez
Thibault Franck
Jayson Goffin
Maxime Jobe
Romain Khedimi
Léo Laurent
Léo Llong
Erwan Mathe
Paul Marty
Mike Parenti
Cédrix Payrou
Corentin Rey
Lucas Ribas
Hugo Salabio
Adrien Saliès
Bastien Scimone
Ugo Tison
Tanguy Zénon
Notes
Young U19 players Loan Castano, Enzo Colchero, Damien Dauset, Enzo Delbe, Valentin Fernandez, Erwan Mathe, Adrien Saliès and Tanguy Zenon are joining the first team squad.
Thibault Franck (St Gaudens), Mike Parenti (Palau), Corentin Rey (Avignon) and Paul Marty (Narbonne, Rugby Union) are also joining the reserve team.
In previous years, the writers and editors of this website may have given the impression that they thought the League Leaders Shield was a relatively worthless piece of silverware.
Comments such as "the hubcap", "the salad dish", "tin plate" and "won nowt yet" may have lead readers to believe that we were of the opinion that this achievement meant little in the grander scheme of things.
In light of Saturday's remarkable events as the Dragons came from 30-12 down against nearest rivals St Helens to level matters and then go on to win with a dramatic 40-metre drop-goal from the boot of Jimmy Maloney, we now realise this was misguided and the Shield is extremely valuable and an important part of any club's palmarès.
We apologise for any confusion and are happy to clear this matter up.
Dragons Catalans (40) 64
T : Mike McMeeken 3, Fouad Yaha 3, James Maloney, Joel Tomkins, Sam Tomkins 2, Tom Davies
G : James Maloney 10
Leigh Centurions (0) 0
T :
G :
Official match report - Catalans Dragons offered produced a magnificient performance to beat Leigh 64-0 at the Gilbert Brutus Stadium.
Thanks to 11 tries without conceding a single point, Steve McNmara's men never gave a chance to their opponent.
With this new victory, the Dragons remain top of the Super League ahead of the big clash over St Helens in the Magic Weekend next Saturday at Newcastle.
Dragons : S.Tomkins, Davies, Laguerre, Langi, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dezaria, McIlorum, Bousquet, Le Cam, McMeeken, Goudemand
Subs : Mourgue, J.Tomkins, Cozza, Chan
Leigh : Brand, Elliot, Sa’u, Logan, Nisbet, Mellor, Brierley, Mason, Eaves, Butler, Hellewell, Foster, Thompson
Subs : Gerrard, Mullen, Spencer, Whitbread
Stadium : Gilbert Brutus
Referee : A. Moore
Attendance : 6512
Man of the Match : Mike McMeeken
A bank holiday Monday from hell for Leigh with Dragons warming up for their Magic Weekend date with destiny by putting 60 points on their relegation favourite visitors.
We can talk about the inequality of the competition for as long as we like but this is a case of the teams putting all that aside and playing the best they could in the circumstances.
With short turnarounds and injury this might, in all honesty, have been one that Leigh hadn't highlighted as getting too much from and so it proved with the home side well on the way to the half century before the break.
