Lézignan (12) 24
T : Lacans, Bonneriez, Ferret, Inu, J. Flovie
G : Marginet 2
St Estève XIII Catalan (12) 22
T : Jobe, Vailhen, Khedimi, Parenti
G : Marty 3
The champions were run close by an improving Catalans side over the weekend.
Level at the interval this would have been a really impressive scalp to claim but we move on to Toulouse this weekend and hopefully a win.
St Estève XIII Catalan (12) 32
T : Zénon, Tison, Parenti, Marty, Jobe, Laurent
G : Marty 4
DG :
Albi (13) 19
T : Chanet, Cancé, Bernard
G : Fabre 3
DG : Fabre
Its taken a while but we are off the mark in the domestic league for 2021/2022.
After what I think is a record number of straight defeats to start an Elite 1 season this performance and win was much needed.
Challenge Cup final try scorer Lewis Tierney has retired from the game.
Tierney left the Dragons last winter for Leigh but injury has ended his pro career.
We wish him all the best for the future and will never forget the contribution he made to the club.
Catalans have been further boosted by the signings of Dylan Napa and Tyrone May from the NRL.
Along with Mitchell Pearce this is a real show of intent for the Dragons with transfers that will leave the internet moaners looking into the salary cap rules.
We would like to welcome both to Stade Gilbert Brutus and wish them all the best in their time with the club.
After his professional retirement last winter (he played for Lezignan in Elite 1 last season) Sam Moa is back at the club as an assistant coach.
We wish him well.
Joel Tomkins has announced his immediate retirement from the game despite him being signed on for Leigh next season.
Click here for more.
A busy couple of weeks for the club between the last round of domestic matches and the Superleague fixtures coming out.
Firstly we saw a welcome contract extension for Arthur Morgue. Considering the elusive and evasive running style of the "death man" I am impressed we got him cornered and sat at a desk to sign the thing.
As Samkins starts to see the end of his playing career on the horizon I hope we see even more of this lad in 2022.
I see it as an Obi Wan, Luke sort of relationship developing.
This morning the announcement was made that Mitchell Pearce would be joining us from Newcastle Knights.
He is a big name in the NRL and if he can produce as he did in that competition will be more than adequate a replacement for Jimmy Maloney.
I am sure it a coincidence he joins from the Knights, but in my mind Scott Dureau will have been in his ear for months telling him that Argeles beach will be as good as home.
I hope he goes well.
The baby Dracs are zero and two from the start of the season with a heavy defeat on their travels in Avignon over the weekend
Avignon (24) 42
T : Ghanem, Arnaud, Meyziani, Payne, Jullien, Andreu, Salphati
G : Arnaud 5
St Estève XIII Catalan (0) 6
T : T. Chan
G : Marty
Limoux (10) 37
T : Santo, Maurel 2, Torres, L.Vergniol, Flovie, Garrouste
G : Torreilles 4
DG : Torreilles
St Estève XIII Catalan (18) 24
T : Cozza, Le Cam, Franco 2
G : Marty 4
DG :
It was raining points as the Grizzlies put the Baby Dracs to the sword in this opening round of Elite 1 matches.
Despite being up at the break, the visitors couldn't make that advantage count conceding points in the second half to the lose the match.
Journée 1
SAMEDI 16 OCTOBRE 2021
ALBI RUGBY LEAGUE 31 – 22 TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE
DIMANCHE 17 OCTOBRE 2021
SO AVIGNON XIII 18 – 25 CARCASSONNE XIII
FC LEZIGNAN XIII 72 – 16 RC ST GAUDENS XIII
XIII LIMOUXIN 37 – 24 ST ESTEVE XIII CATALAN
The clubs official website has confirmed the end of the three year partnership with O'Neills supplying kit to both the Superleague and Elite 1 sides at the club.
The shop will be closed ahead of rebranding and the launch of new product shortly.
Despite a number of suppliers being linked, talk on the official Facebook page is that Italian giants Macron, who have made some real share gains in union and soccer, will be taking over.
We look forward to seeing their efforts.
In the meantime St Esteve appeared yesterday in O'Neills shirts and Neo Logik training kit.
Neo Logik are a sportswear company with connections to Jason Baitieri and are the Macron fulfillment provider in and around Perpignan.
Journée 1
SAMEDI 16 OCTOBRE 2021
ALBI RUGBY LEAGUE 19H00 TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE
DIMANCHE 17 OCTOBRE 2021
SO AVIGNON XIII 15H30 CARCASSONNE XIII
FC LEZIGNAN XIII 15H30 RC ST GAUDENS XIII
XIII LIMOUXIN 15H30 ST ESTEVE XIII CATALAN
Dragons Catalans (4) 10
T : Mike McMeeken
G : James Maloney 3
St Helens (6) 12
T : Kevin Naiqama 2
G : Lachlan Coote 2
Dragons : S. Tomkins, Davies, Whare, Landi, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dudson, McIlorum, Bousquet, Whitley, McMeeken, Garcia
Subs : Mourgue, Goudemand, J. Tomkins, Kasiano
St Helens : Coote, Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Mata’utia, Batchelor, Knowles
Subs : McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Amor, Paasi, Welsby
Stadium : Old Trafford
Referee : Liam Moore
Attendance :45 177
Catalans Dragons came up narrowly short in their quest to win the Superleague Grand Final.
After surviving early pressure from the defending champions, St Helens, the Catalan side struck first through a Jimmy Maloney penalty.
Some juggling in goal from Kevin Naiqama saw us behind at the break before Mike McMeeken gave us a narrow lead which we defending until late on when the Fijian crossed again. He was injured in the act of scoring.
There was a couple of controversial moments. Fouad Yaha looked like scoring before being taken out by Tommy Makinson and in our last attack Sam Tomkins was penalised for an incorrect play the ball. Harsh when you consider he was in a head lock at the time.
It could and maybe should have been a 2 point chance for Maloney and who knows where extra time would have taken us?
When the dust settles we will review the season in detail.
But for now we have the terrible prospect of LMS gloating in his column! You don't like us Louie and we don't like you !
...from the Grand Final is one of pride in my team.
However.
And this is a big rant coming.
The utter nonsense posted on the internet since the game has left me feeling like my love of this game is hanging by a thread, and a thin one at that.
To expect Catalans fans to sell out half of Old Trafford with a weeks notice is ridiculous. Throw in Covid protocols, increased fares due to fuel costs and a whole host of other reasons that would have impacted the crowd from so-called heartlands clubs and you have borderline xenophobia going on here.
I have said it before but it bears repeating.
I am born and raised in the south of England and got into the game through my Father-in-Law owning a home near the Stade Gilbert Brutus. I try and extoll the virtues of the game at every opportunity playing touch in my home area and pushing a Catalans agenda whenever and wherever I can.
Do I feel part of the wider rugby league family?
Sometimes.
But not at the moment. I feel like the likes of me and my club are not welcome in the UK and that the Superleague owners and fans would much prefer both Dracs and Toulouse to do a Toronto and vanish without trace.
The sport is fantastic. Make no mistake about that.
The governance and some of the attitudes around it are not first class, nowhere near.
There are things in the game that were Dragons fault. Signing Israel Folau for example. Bernard throwing his toys out of the pram about officials regularly (including this weekend), and some of the teams poor performances away to the likes of Leeds, Warrington and especially Wigan over the years.
But I found myself typing on Facebook in response to a troll that I was more looking forward to the domestic Elite 1 competition (coming this weekend) more than the Grand Final based on the abuse I knew that was coming our way.
That is a scandalous position to find myself in. This should have been the pinnacle of my Dragons watching career.
Notice I have deliberately not mentioned officials. In the past I subscribed to the theory that we would get reffed out of the big tournament finals but having "let" us get to Old Trafford there was no point in rigging the game then.
The Hull KR match would have been nobbled were that to be the case.
For me the officials have a difficult job and make mistakes from time to time. So do players and so do club officials. So no blame from here there.
So where do I go from here?
I am going to spend the winter following St Esteve and hope that the lack of UK based internet crowd experts offering their stuffy self centred opinions might calm me down and get my love of the game back where it should be.
Steve McNamara has been named as the coach of the year at the Superleague awards.
Sam Tomkins won the players award, the Steve Prescott Man of Steel.
Congratulations to both.
Catalans Dragons (12) 28
T : Benjamin Garcia, Josh Drinkwater, Arthur Mourgue, Fouad Yaha, Joe Chan
G : James Maloney 4
Hull KR (4) 10
T : Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Ryan Hall
G : Jordan Abdull
Team sheet
Dragons : Mourgue, Davies, Whare, Landi, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, J.Tomkins, McIlorum, Bousquet, Whitley, McMeeken, Garcia
Subs: Dudson, Goudemand, Chan, Kasiano
Hull KR : Dagger, Crooks, Takairangi, Kenny-Dowall, Hall, Lewis, Abdull, King, Litten, Maher, Johnson, Linnett, Storton
Subs: Vete, Mustapha, Tate, Keinhorst
Stadium : Stade Gilbert Brutus
Referee: James Child
Attendance: 11 530
Man of the match : James Maloney
*Please note this is their independent unofficial product and isn't officially endorsed.
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.
Benjamin Julien
Alrix Da Costa
Paul Seguier
Arthur Romano
All of the above have signed new deals of varying length with the club.
We would like to thank them for their continued service with Catalans Dragons.
Sadly last weekends match with Warrington was postponed due to a Covid outbreak in the Dragons camp.
We hope all get well soon.
Former NSW State of Origin player James Maloney will quit the gamee at the end of the season when his contract with Catalans Dragons expires.
We would like to place on record our thanks to Maloney for his incredible efforts in the sang-et-or and hope retirement treats him well.
Recently we posted about the voluntary relegation of Palau Broncos, and as a result of that and the pandemic going on the Elite 1 season will startin October with just 9 teams.
You can get more details on this from Loverugbyleague.com by clicking here.
Here is the fixture matrix from the French Rugby League website.
Click to enlarge
We will cover all St Esteve matches again on the website as before.
We have no idea whats happening with the Dragons kit and Oneills, but they have expanded their St Esteve range online so it might be worth snapping up some kit ahead of the season.
With the Dragons going along nicely at the top of Superleague this season, there has already been a raft of new contracts announced.
The like of Josh Drinkwater and Tom Davies are already signed up for additional seasons in Perpignan along with a number of the local talent starting to emerge and push for places in the team.
In recent weeks it had been rumoured that, due to the large amount of salary cap space he was commanding, Sam Kasiano would be moving to an English based club.
Warrington (of course) and Leeds (of course) had been mentioned on socials as possible destinations for the player affectionately known as Big Sam. But the club has today announced he will be with us until the end of 2022 putting all that speculation to bed.
Unless of course one of those clubs wants to stump up an absolute fortune, which is doubtful in the times of Covid.
The Dragons have won the McNamara derby with a nervy win over plucky Hull FC over the weekend.
After defeat at St Helens, this one was important to win ahead of a trip to bogey side Warrington.
Despite throwing an interception, Sam Tomkins was instrumental in our finishing the game strongly.
With a reduced pre-season involving less contact being highlighted as a possible cause of fitness dropping off during the season, its so far so good for the conditioners and coaching team.
The over-riding image of the match will be of Dad Steve consoling son Ben after the final hooter.
Dragons Catalans (10) 31
T : Tom Davies 2, Fouad Yaha, Sam Tomkins, Julian Bousquet
G : James Maloney 5
DG : James Maloney
Hull FC (14) 16
T : Carlos Tuimavave, Bureta Faraimo
G : Ben McNamara 4
Dragons : S.Tomkins, Davies, Whare, Langi, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dudson, McIlorum, Bousquet, Le Cam, McMeeken, Goudemand
Subs : Mourgue, Chan, Kasiano, Dezaria
Hull FC : Swift, Faraimo, Walker, Tuimavave, Scott, Reynolds, McNamara, Fash, Houghton, Sao, Ma’u, Lane, Cator
Subs : Taylor, Brown, Bowden, Hookem
Stadium : Gilbert Brutus
Referee : James Child
Intendance : 7122
Man of the Match : Mickael Goudemand
We were all looking forward to the World Cup. Particularly, the Greece v France game - The Forbidden Derby - in the group stages and what promised to be a great fun event at Leeds when Ireland faced Jamaica.
But as we know now, it ain't happening. Well, not any time soon, and if things haven't changed much in twelve months we'll be back in the same position again. Given how little has changed in the last 18 months, we're not holding out huge confidence in the same issues rearing their heads again.
The big problem was of course the NRL. With Australian quarantine rules, any player coming over would end up missing a chunk of their pre-season, a situation that simply cannot be abided despite the obvious benefits to the global game. If it's not NRL, it's not their problem, and therefore can be treated with contempt, even if the players were up for it.
It's clear that the Australian game doesn't have the best interests of the international game at heart. How many times have the Kangaroos even played since the last World Cup? It's not very many. And indeed, they trampled on a mid-season international break some years ago so even sides willing to play one another would struggle to raise competitive sides.
There's only one solution to the impasse.
Disband the Kangaroos.
Seems a bit extreme, obviously, but if they're not even going to play games, would they even be missed? Let them have their Origin and let the rest of us get on with it. Let James Tedesco play for Italy, Tom Trbojevic for Serbia, Ryan Papenhuyzen for the Netherlands. Let's see teams who want to get it on do so, without that permanent feeling that any second-generation player for an emerging nation will soon be in green and gold. Let's have fun, fun that the presence of the Kangaroos invariably destroys, or at least disrupts.
Bin 'em off, the rest of us get on with it and maybe, just maybe, when they see we're having fun and progressing without them, they might actually get it.
The run is over, but what a time it has been to follow this club and its fortunes.
My hope is that we don't look back on this mid part of 2021 and identify it as the highlight. There is still much to play for and we have to continue to go for it.
Don't leave it in the stands and on the touchline, leave it all on the park.
Of course injuries are starting to bite, but its the same for all so we still have a chance.
St Helens (20) 34
T : Tommy Makinson, Lewis Dodd, Regan Grace, Joe Batchelor, Lachlan Coote
G : Lachlan Coote 7
Dragons Catalans (6) 12
T : Matthieu Laguerre, Mickael Goudemand
G : James Maloney 2
Dragons : Mourgue, Franco, Whare, Laguerre, Yaha, Maloney, Rougé, Dudson, Da Costa, Goudemand, Jullien, McMeeken, J.Tomkins
Subs : Séguier, Le Cam, Chan, Dezaria
Saints : Coote, Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Thompson, Batchelor, Knowles
Subs : Mata’utia, Amor, Paasi, Welsby
Stadium : Totally Wicked Stadium
Referee : Liam Moore
Yellow card : Joe Chan, Sione Mata’utia
Thanks to our ongoing love of Oliver Elima we have always held a candle for Palau Broncos.
Their voluntary relegation down to the Ligue National is a sad thing for us.
Benoit Albert left the club at the end of the season having replaced Olivier Elima midway through the stop-start 2020/2021 campaign.
The club had thrown a bit more money into the campaign so to end up going down the leagues will have been galling.
However a ray of light has come with the annoucement of their head coach for next season.
Rodney Howe is a name that needs no introduction to Catalans fans having working in S&C at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
He was always an excitable proposition behind the posts dishing out water when we'd conceded.
We wish him luck in the job and will be keeping our usual eye on our second favourite teams journey this winter.
Hull KR (4) 16
T : Adam Quinlan 2
G : Jordan Abdull 3
DG :
Catalans Dragons (8) 23
T : Romain Franco, Samisoni Langi, Sam Tomkins
G : James Maloney 5
DG : James Maloney
Catalans Dragons produced a strong performance to beat Hull KR and win a twelfth game in a row.
Team sheet
Dragons : S.Tomkins, Franco, Whare, Langi, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dudson, Da Costa, Goudemand, Jullien, McMeeken, J.Tomkins
Subs: Mourgue, Séguier, Chan, Kasiano
Hull KR : Quinlan, Crooks, Minikin, Kenny-Dowall, Hall, Takairangi, Abdull, Maher, Parcell, King, Johnson, Linnett, Hadley
Subs: Vete, Litten, Lawler, Storton
Stadium : Hull College Craven Park
Referee: Robert Hicks
Love Rugby League has a couple of articles talking about Sam Tomkins at the moment.
One includes a podcast link with George Riley and is well worth a listen.
So here are the links in case you missed them.
McNamara says Sam is natural leader > Click here
Tomkins to settle in France post retirement > Click here
We love Samkins and are really enjoying his contribution to the team at the moment.
Catalans Dragons (20) 40
T : Sam Tomkins, Alrix Da Costa, Sam Kasiano, Gil Dudson, Fouad Yaha 2
G : James Maloney 8
Wakefield Trinity (12) 20
T : Yusuf Aydin, David Fifita 2
G : Mason Lino 4
Catalans Dragons secured a 40-20 victory over Wakefield at the Gilbert Brutus Stadium.
Steve McNamara's side produced another hardworking performance to beat their today's opponents. First season try from Alrix Da Costa and first Super League try from Gil Dudson under the Catalan jersey helped the Dragons to get their 11th consecutive win in Super League this season.
Thanks to this victory, Catalans reinforce their position at the top of the table before travelling to Hull KR next Monday.
Dragons : S.Tomkins, Davies, Whare, Langi, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dudson, Da Costa, Bousquet, Whitley, Jullien, J.Tomkins
Subs : Mourgue, Séguier, Goudemand, Kasiano
Wakefield : Jowitt, Senior, Lyne, Arundel, Kay, Miller, Lino, Fifita, Wood, Arona, Ashurst, Tanginoa, Aydin
Subs : Battye, Green, Walker, Hampshire
Stadium : Gilbert Brutus
Referee : Marcus Griffiths
Attendance : 6 267
Man of the Match : Dean Whare
Dragons Catalans (12) 32
T : Matt Whitley 2, Sam Tomkins, Mickael Goudemand, Fouad Yaha
G : Arthur Mourgue 6
Hull KR (26) 30
T : Jordan Abdull 2, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Greg Minikin, Adam Quinlan
G : Jordan Abdull 5
Catalans Dragons secured a 10th Super League win a row as they have beaten 32-30 Hull KR at Brutus.
After a disappointing first half, Steve McNamara's side found the way to come back, once again, to get the victory on the edge.
Tries from Matt Whitley, Sam Tomkins, Mickael Goudemand and Fouad Yaha helped the Dragons to strenghten their position at the top of the Super League table thanks to 13 wins in 14 games
Dragons : S.Tomkins, Davies, Whare, Langi, Yaha, Mourgue, Drinkwater, Dudson, Da Costa, Bousquet, Whitley, McMeeken, Garcia
Subs : Jullien, Séguier, Goudemand, Kasiano
Hull KR : Quinlan, Crooks, Minikin, Kenny-Dowall, Hall, Takairangi, Abdull, Lawler, Litten, Maher, Johnson, Linnett, Hadley
Subs : Vete, Parcell, Sims, King
Stadium : Stade Gilbert Brutus
There have been new contracts agreed with a number of key Dragons players in recent weeks.
This is brilliant news and highlights the need to keep this squad together over the coming years.
Skipper Ben Garcia was the first to sign, with a long term deal that effectively sees the best years of his career being at the Stade Gilbert Brutus.
Hot property and England international Tom Davies has a similar extension to hopefully ward off suitors of his from the NRL.
He is in brilliant form and getting the best run of try scoring of his career.
Sam Tomkins just gets one more year and we hope he will keep up his current level of performance for 2021 and 2022.
Finally Josh Drinkwater adds 2 years to his contract in a real comeback after a tough stint at Hull KR.
JD famously came from building site to Perpignan before starring in our 2018 cup win. However future terms couldn't be agreed and he went to Hull KR before returning in 2020.
He has been exceptional all season.
9th July
Leeds Rhinos (18) 18
T : Rhyse Martin, Bodene Thompson, Liam Sutcliffe
G : Rhyse Martin 3
Catalans Dragons (8) 26
T : Arthur Mourgue, Matt Whitley, Mike McMeeken, Fouad Yaha
G : James Maloney 2, Arthur Mourgue 3
The Dragons kept Leeds scoreless after the break to get the first win of this test series double header against the Rhinos.
Huddersfield Giants (0) 12
T : Ashton Golding, Jake Wardle
G : Oliver Russell 2
Catalans Dragons (20) 50
T : Benjamin Jullien, Mike McMeeken, Samisoni Langi, Benjamin Garcia, Arthur Mourgue, Sam Tomkins, James Maloney, Tom Davies
G : James Maloney 9
This bizarre season of Superleague continued with the Dragons pounding Hudderfield Giants at the John Smiths Stadium.
The run now stands at 7 wins in a row before our encounter with improving Leeds Rhinos.
Castleford Tigers (0) 6
T: Derrell Olpherts
G: Danny Richardson
Catalan Dragons (8) 16
T: Fouad Yaha, Samisoni Langi, Matthieu Laguerre
G: James Maloney 2
The run is now extended to 6 matches with a big win (in terms of significance if not score) over Castleford to kick off the Superleague weekend.
There were weakened teams for both clubs due to injury and international call ups.
Catalans managed the game effectively keeing their hosts scoreless for the opening half with Yaha and Langi crossing on either wing to establish a lead.
A final try (also in the corner) from Laguerre ensured the points crossed the channel and that the pressure was firmly on the other teams leading the league ladder.
This was a brilliant result and the sort of ugly, ground out win that we are not know for.
Let's hope its a permanent addition to our arsenal.
Israel Folau is rumoured to be free to make his Southport Tigers debut this weekend.
He and the clubs controversial owner are said to have settled out of court with the Catalans Dragons.
I have two final points to make on this...
This hasn't yet been reflected in O'Neills store over here in the UK.
My feeling is that this could be the end of the current relationship which will have been in place for 3 years since ISC packed up and went home to Australia.
I have been happy with the designs in the main, only pausing my purchasing in 2020 for other reasons that have been discussed at length.
However, people I play rugby with who have used O'neills kit have cited recent issues with supply and sizing. That is anecdotal and not my personal experience, but it might be that they are looking to scale back to focus on delivery and not breadth of clubs supplied.
If the Dragons kit deal is up for renewal, the current high profile of the club at the top of Super League should make them an attractive target for a brand looking to get a foothold in the game or cement its position.
I see two names in the frame at the moment.
Oxen have taken over where ISC left off in terms of depth of clubs supplied and I could easily see Catalans fit in with this brand.
Despite a fair bit of stick over the England world cup kit, I think both that and the training gear looks really nice. I spent my birthday money on an England hoodie and am really happy with it.
My other tip is Macron. Best known for football and recently 6 nations rugby union, the Italian manufacturer are reputedly looking to pitch for contracts to supply clubs and have a shop right outside Stade Gilbert Brutus.
It will be interesting to see what happens with regards to announcements and decisions with all clubs, not just Catalans Dragons looking to get the best deals possible as they start looking to recoup recent losses.
Maybe Nike are coming back ?
For the second year running it seems a trip to France is proving too much for Leed Rhinos to get their heads around.
After flat out refusing to travel last year, they now have 345454366 covid cases in their camp meaning that we will no longer have a fixture this weekend.
I am sure that Superleague will ensure that by the time it gets re-arranged they will have new players and coaches meaning that the trip will be a lot less tricky for them.
(end of irony)
Much as I jest, I hope that those affected at Leeds heal quickly.
Treize Mondial are reporting that Greg Bird is leaving the club to return to Australia after St Esteve were knocked out of the Elite 1 play offs.
More to come on this websites last Hall of Fame entry, as the news sinks in.
We will miss the great man.
Leigh Centurions (18) 30
T : Ben Reynolds, Brendan Elliot, Matty Gee, Ben Hellewell, Ryan Brierley
G : Ryan Brierley 5
Dragons Catalans (12) 36
T : Josh Drinkwater, James Maloney, Samisoni Langi, Tom Davies, Benjamin Jullien, Arthur Mourgue
G : James Maloney 6
The domestic season is over for the Catalans who fell one match short of making the final against Carcassonne in Toulouse.
Level at the interval Justin Murphys time slipped behind finishing up over a score adrift.
However in his first season as coach and with a disrupted season, we can measure 2020/2021 as a success.
A number of players in this squad now look like possible Super League players and despite a drop off in the final month of the campaign results have been good over the season.
Lézignan (12) 26
T : Marginet, Tort, Ferret, Lolo
G : Marginet 4
DG : Marginet, J. Guasch
St Estève XIII Catalan (12) 18
T : Rougé, Khedimi, Brochon
G : Brochon 3
DG :
Line-ups
Lézignan : Stacul, Izard, Ferret, Bonneriez, Tort, Lacans, Marginet, Moa, Guasch, Maria, Lolo, Gagan, Ors
Subs : Th. Margalet, Albert, Malfaz, Tr. Margalet
St Estève XIII Catalan : Brochon, Flovie, Laguerre, J. Chan, Franco, Meresta-Doucet, Rougé, Vailhen, Zafra, Scimone, Le Cam, Perez, Cozza
Subs : Llong, Laurent, T. Chan, Khedimi
...the cynics might say at least it wasn't in a fast food restaurant.
But, let's be positive despite Joel Tomkins' latest suspension. His act of defending his brother after Zak Hardakers head butt is hopefully indicative of the new found deeper team spirit encaspsulating the Catalans Dragons this season.
Whether the Wigan man got off lightly or JT got too much is not really relevant here. It's more about team spirit.
Secretly I think Steve McNamara might not be too upset with this situation
After their recent dodgy form, St Esteve were left with the toughest route to the French Elite 1 final.
The showpiece match looked a long way away at half time in this one with Justin Murphy's side trailing at the interval.
St Estève XIII Catalan (9) 43
T : Rougé, Llong, Flovie, Laurent, Perez, Franco, J. Chan
G : Brochon 6, Perez
DG : Rougé
Villeneuve (14) 24
T : Tuitahi, Bachoukh, Godinet, Tabu
G : Lasvenes, Kriouache
DG :
The scorline doesn't quite paint the true picture as we only got 25-24 ahead in the last few minutes of the match before adding gloss to the score.
We move on to face Lezignan next weekend in a really tough looking match on paper.
I would love to be telling you some exciting facts or key insights on this match but I was busy being away in the New Forest and could only follow on Twitter.
It sounded very exciting though as we pulled out one of those incredible performances that tend to come the Dracs way every now and again.
Catalans Dragons (16) 48
T : Micky McIlorum, Sam Tomkins 2, Arthur Mourgue, Josh Drinkwater 2, Mike McMeeken, Matthieu Laguerre
G : James Maloney 8
Wigan Warriors (0) 0
T :
G :
Such was the visiting sides frustration at not being able to register a single point, Zak Hardaker decided to head butt Sam Tomkins causing the sort of melee that causes correspondents to write that "if only Wigan had showed this level of passion all game".
One swallow doesn't make a summer, that much is for sure, and we have been on the cusp of this sort of dominance of Super League more times than I care to mention before not pushing forward.
With the limited time spent in pre-season it would not surprise me one bit if the players start to run out of steam in the coming weeks.
For now though, let's enjoy being in this position and this sort of form.
In the current world climate, your sporting team being able to make you smile is something to treasure.
This website, its fair to say, took a bit of stick for our strong stance on Israel Folau.
We raised money for DE&I charity and boycotted club merchandise to show our disapproval at the club signing Folau.
There were people who defended the clubs right to sign him and the players right to play. We respected that view, even if it didn't align with ours.
And whilst we could look smugly at them right now and utter the words "told you so", that wouldn't be helpful.
One thing we will remain firm on is that the club deserves limited amounts of sympathy now that he has downed tools and decided to head to the court room (yet again).
This was always going to end in tears. Always. If those in the corridors of power at Stade Gilbert Brutus didn't consider or allow for that, then we have a problem.
So whilst it would be nice to think that a transfer fee is coming to Perpignan to compensate Dragons for the loss of the player, I wouldn't be betting on that.
Catalans Dragons have been used by Israel Folau and if he gets away with joining Southport Tigers on the sly by getting out of his existing contract, Bernard and Steve Mc will be left to look daft.
When you look at the club taking risks on NRL bad boys you could argue that for every Greg Bird there was a Willie Mason, Todd Carney, Dave Taylor and so on.
Signing Folau was on a whole different level and will now be seen as a disaster.
We would like to think that he will be officially gone from our club as soon as contracts and severence allow and that we as fans can move on from this.
The club should learn from this and not jump in straight away to try and re-ignite the careers of the wayward fading stars from down under.
A big performance from Jimmy Maloney saw Catalans survive a late comeback to beat St Helens in Perpignan over the weekend.
Maloney scored a try and kicked 4 goals/penalties from the tee to end with 12 points out of our total of 20 and scoop up player of the match awards.
Having established what looked a decent enough lead to see the game home, the visitors stunned the returning crowds at Stade Gilbert Brutus with Mark Percival and Regan Grace crossing late on.
But it was too little too late and the home side staked a claim for performance of the week in Superleague.
Dragons Catalans (8) 20
T : James Maloney, Dean Whare, Benjamin Jullien
G : James Maloney 4
St Helens (2) 16
T : Mark Percival 2, Regan Grace
G : Lachlan Coote 2
Dragons : Mourgue, Davies, Whare, Laguerre, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dudson, McIlorum, Bousquet, Jullien, McMeeken, Garcia
Subs : Da Costa, Goudemand, J.Tomkins, Kasiano
Saints : Coote, Naiqama, Percival, Welsby, Grace, Lomax, Fages, Paasi, Roby, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Mata’utia, Thompson, Knowles
Subs : Walmsley, Amor, Batchelor, Dodd
Stadium : Gilbert Brutus
Referee : Robert Hicks
Lézignan (12) 22
T : Stacul, Lacans, Maria
G : Marginet 5
St Estève XIII Catalan (10) 20
T : Franco, Jobe, Flovie, Cozza
G : Brochon 2
St Esteve proved their recent patchy form wasn't just a blip by losing again over the weekend.
This loss to Lezignan sees them drop to 4th in the table with the regular season now being over.
Their route to the finals will now be much harder, but more importantly Justin Murphy will need to get a big performance and result out of his men.
This is moving fast isn' it...
After his unveiling at a tense press conference, Folau has is a Southport Tigers player.
Click here to read Alex Chan's stance on this fact our player is likely to be turning out for another club on the other side of world.
Hull FC (4) 10
T : Mahe Fonua, Josh Reynolds
G : Marc Sneyd
Catalans Dragons (4) 27
T : Sam Kasiano, Mike McMeeken, Tom Davies 2
G : James Maloney 4, Arthur Mourgue
DG : James Maloney
Hooray !!!
Dragons got one over Hull at the KC for the second season running and showed that their fitness is in a good place by accelerating the score board late on.
They were behind before a lucky bounce/perfect kick came back off the posts and into the considerable midriff of Big Sam before he dropped over the line.
Hull were in this before some late magic on the right edge saw Tom Davies fly high and score twice.
Villeneuve (8) 22
T : Vergniol, Brioux, Robin
G : Lasvesnes 4
St Estève XIII Catalan (0) 8
T : Zafra, Jobe
G :
A shock defeat for St Esteve over the weekend with a confident home performance by Villeneuve enough to see them over the line for a comfortable win.
Villeneuve : Lasvesnes, Bachoukh, Brioux, Tuitahi, Nicolas, Kriouache, Robin, Pettybourne, Godinet, Masselot, Vergniol, Benouahab, Biscarro
Subs :Gautier, Coutinho, Mika, Tabu
St Estève XIII Catalan : Franco, Zenon, Carré, Laurent, Jobe, Zafra, Rougé, Cozza, Meresta-Doucet, Dezaria, Goffin, Le Cam, Perez
Subs : Llong, Khedimi, Vailhen, Scimone
2 defeats in a row isn't enough to press the panic button just yet, but there will be some raised eyebrow at our form as the play offs loom.
A lot of media outlets are going big on Southport Tigers in Australia having signed Israel Folau.
Earlier in the week there was talk of him returning to France but this looks to have put paid to that.
Read the full story here.
I think there will be very few people, even within our club, who will be surprised that this whole thing has ended in tears.
At least my boycott on club merchandise and going to games can now be lifted.
Catalans march to the arch has ended at the hands of vodoo team Warrington Wolves.
The match was actually closer than we'd anticipated with injury and travel starting to look like it was taking a toll on the men from Perpignan.
Dragons Catalans (0) 6
T : Mike McMeeken
G : James Maloney
Warrington Wolves (14) 16
T : Daryl Clark 2
G : Gareth Widdop 4
It was actually a slow start rather than late game fatigue that did for the Dracs with a 14 point half time margin too big a leap to get over.
St Estève XIII Catalan (6) 30
T : Jobe, Le Cam, Baby, Rougé, Perez
G : Brochon 5
Avignon (18) 38
T : Pourret, Rey, Demonte, F. Jullien, Bissière, Moran
G : Rey 7
A rare defeat for St Esteve as Avignon came to Perpignan and took the competition points with a clever display.
After 2020 being a write off, this is a great opportunity for fans to get out and support some live match action.
So if you have the chance, please get alone and support the Buccs this season.
Use the contact form on the left of this website homepage if you want to know more.
It was a case of back to business for Dragons with a decent win over Wakefield at the Mobile Rocket Stadium.
Tom Davies scored the same try three times, being back up by Dean Whare with a couple to see off a spirited Trin'.
The home side were in the match until the last quarter so it's nice to see that we dug out a result away from home, especially so after the error strewn defeat to Warrington the week before.
Wakefield Trinity (12) 18
T : Oliver Ashall-Bott, Max Jowitt, Reece Lyne
G : Mason Lino (3)
Catalans Dragons (20) 38
T : Tom Davies (3), Mike McMeeken, Dean Whare (2), Samisoni Langi
G : James Maloney (5)
Wakefield : Ashall-Bott, Kershaw, Tupou, Lyne, Kay, Lino, Jowitt, Green, Wood, Tanginoa, Batchelor, Pitts, Westerman
Subs : Eaves, Arona, Fifita, Battye
Dragons : S.Tomkins, Davies, Whare, Langi, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dudson, McIlorum, Bousquet, Séguier, McMeeken, Garcia
Subs : Mourgue, J.Tomkins, Baitieri, Dezaria
Stadium : Mobile Rocket Stadium
Referee : Chris Kendall
Catalans Dragons (8) 8
T : James Maloney
G : James Maloney 2
Warrington Wolves (12) 24
T : Ben Currie, Toby King, Jake Mamo, Gareth Widdop
G : Stefan Ratchford 4
Dragons : S.Tomkins, Davies, Whare, Langi, Yaha, Maloney, Drinkwater, Dudson, Da Costa, Bousquet, Whitley, McMeeken, Garcia
Subs : McIlorum, Séguier, Baitieri, Kasiano
Warrington : Ashton, Thewlis, Mamo, King, Charnley, Ratchford, Widdop, Hill, D.Clark, Cooper, Currie, Hughes, Davis
Subs : Philbin, J.Clark, Walker, Mulhern
Where to start on this one eh?
It was a match of narrow margins at key moments. Let's be positive here.
But it was an error strewn performance by the Dragons, something the coach had predicted in his post match interviews from the Salford win the week before.
When they score a try off a triple bounce and Samkins throws an interception for a length of the field score its probably best to say its not your day.
This top of the table clash has been postponed again from this weekend due to positive tests in the Lezignan camp.
St-Estève XIII Catalan (26) 42
T : Dezaria, Franco, Le Cam, J. Chan 2, T. Chan 3
G : Brochon 5
Albi (10) 22
T : Grabulos, Pedrero 2
G : Goze 5
St-Estève XIII Catalan: Brochon, Franco, Jobe, Carré, Tison, Zafra, Saliès,Dezaria, Meresta-Doucet, Cozza, Le Cam, J. Chan, Perez
Subs: Laurent, Khedimi, Scimone, T. Chan.
Albi : Goze, Pedrero, Boualem, Bianchini, Deburghgraeve, Cance, Binda, Molinier, Grabulos, Pomie, Bonilla, Camposet, Andral.
Subs: Walton, Zaurini, Hubert, Tailhades
Jordan Dezaria celebrated his return to the club and new contract by getting St Esteve up and running in this regulation win over Albi.
After the Lezignan postponement it was good to get back up and running.
You can enjoy the whole match (in case you missed it) here...
Catalans Dragons (20) 42
T : Benjamin Garcia, Samisoni Langi, Josh Drinkwater, Fouad Yaha 3, Tom Davies
G : James Maloney 7
Salford Red Devils (0) 6
T : Harvey Livett
G : Morgan Escaré
Hopes were high for this top of the table clash in Elite 1 over the weekend but the scourge of the world, Covid 19 prevented Justin Murphy and his side from taking the chance to build on their derby win over Palau the previous weekend.
At this stage it isn't clear if this will be rescheduled, we hope sincerely that it will and that the Lezignan player is ok and not affected too strongly by the virus and their positive test.
Palau (8) 14
T : H. Miloudi 2
G : A. Miloudi 3
Saint-Estève-XIII Catalan (20) 36
T : Carré 2, Cozza, Flovie, Llong, Zenon
G : Franco 6
Super Romain Franco has added kicking to his already wonderful game and was able to ensure a decent away win in the derby over Palau.
To be fair, since the home side sacked Olivier Elima we have been less into them as our second team. So feelings weren't as mixed as they were when the two teams last met.
It was great to see Dragons coach Steve McNamara in attendance casting his eye over Justin Murphy and Greg Birds team.
With the clubs new found strategy of going for younger home grown players over NRL cast offs I hope that this is the dawn of a truly new era for us.
Catalans Dragons 26 (8)
T : Sam Tomkins, Josh Drinkwater, Tom Davies, Gil Dudson
G : James Maloney 5
Wakefield Trinity 6 (6)
T : Mason Lino
G : Mason Lino
A narrow away win against Albi for the title chasing St Esteve side.
No video highlights or much detail on this one so we will leave by saying... well done Justin and the lads :)
In a repeat of last years competition, Dragons will face Wakefield on neutral ground to avoid the Yorkshire club having to quarantine in order to fulfil the fixture in France.
The match has also been chosen for BBC tv and will be shown live on Saturday.
This of course means a third consecutive week of travel from France to England for our coaching and playing staff.
Catalans showed all that is good and all that is bad about them in this bizarre match to open their 2021 Super league season.
Having marched into what looked an unasailable lead with little over a quarter of the match to go they defaulted to normal behaviour in taking their feet off the gas allowing a Ryan Hall inspired KR to get back to 28 all taking the game into golden point extra time.
Fortunately an inspired break from Artur Morgue was enough to set up James Maloney who showed due calmness and composure in slotting over the match winning field goal.
Cue lots of relief and celebrations.
It shouldn't of course have come to this. We had the game won and by some distance before that lazy mindset set in and we let the opposition back in.
We concede way too many points away from home to be considered genuine contenders for honours and it looks like their is gong to be no chance in how things pan out for us in 2021.
I accept that there are lots of issues with the travel, late pre-season etc. so we can put this one down to fitness levels as much as thinking they had done enough to get the W.
Let's see how these issues get addressed as we go forward with the 2021 season.
I was happy to do a quick season preview for the St Helens website Redvee.net
I managed to get through it without mentioning Scott Dureau's kick from the touchline :)
Click here to read the full piece.
St Gaudens (6) 20
T : Wall, Moliner, Marty
G : Chanet (4)
St-Estève XIII Catalan (12) 40
T : Cozza (3), Le Cam, Llong, Carré, Payrou
G : Brochon (6)
A hat-trick from Mathieu Cozza was enough to get the win in this road game with St Gaudens.
The win keeps us 2nd in in the table hot on the heels of Carcassonne 1 point behind.
Super League is pleased to confirm that a broadcast arrangement has been agreed with the premium sports network, beIN SPORTS, for Catalans Dragons home and away Betfred Super League matches in 2021.
The arrangement between Sky Sports, the Dragons, and the French broadcaster will initially see the first five Dragons home games being aired live on beIN SPORTS network in France, with Sky Sports also showing the matches live throughout the UK.
The first match to be broadcast from Perpignan sees the Dragons take on the Salford Red Devils on Saturday April 17 (kick-off, 1800 CET / 1700 BST), followed by televised home fixtures against Warrington Wolves, St Helens, Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos. The Dragons matches in Round 1 and 2, which will be televised by Sky Sports in the UK, will also be shown via beIN Sports in France.
Catalans Dragons Chairman, Bernard Guasch, said: “I would like to thank our broadcast partner Sky Sports for understanding the need to broadcast the competition, and in particular our club, on a French channel.
"The return of beIN SPORTS is excellent news for our fans and sponsors, who will be able to follow our games in France and England during this difficult period, regardless of the protocols in the stadiums. Media exposure was an essential subject for our sponsors and I believe that we have met their expectations with this agreement.
"It will be a significant financial investment for the club, but the end justifies the means. I would like to thank all the people involved in this negotiation, in Perpignan, Paris, London and Manchester.”
French rugby league is enjoying something of a renaissance in these unusual times, and the French Federation’s new president, Luc Lacoste, is determined to build on the momentum.
Catalans Dragons (10) 40
T : Josh Drinkwater, Fouad Yaha 3, Matt Whitley, Julian Bousquet, Mickael Goudemand
G : James Maloney 6
Toulouse Olympique (24) 28
T : Mark Kheirallah 3, Mitch Garbutt, Hugo Pezet
G : Mark Kheirallah 4
A sketchy performance by Dragons saw a second half comeback needed to beat spirited TOxiii at the Stade Gilbert Brutus.
With both sides inexplicably lining up in white kits it was perhaps no surprise to see patchy play early on.
But the ease with which the visitors broke the Dragons line will be a cause of concern for the coaching staff.
Thankfully we got on top in the second half and were able to put a bit more distance between the sides that the play actually deserved.
For all the talk this winter about the strength of the domestic league in France coming on leaps and bounds, the Catalans put them in their place with a comprehensive win.
Catalans Dragons (28) 50
T : Tom Davies 2, Paul Séguier, Sam Tomkins, Mike McMeeken, Robin Brochon, Jordan Dezaria, Romain Franco, Corentin Le Cam
G : James Maloney 4, Arthur Mourgue 3
Sélection Elite 1 (6) 18
T : Lucas Albert, Nitim Pedrero, Tristan Dupuy
G : Lucas Albert 3
It wasn't just the first half top 13 players who bagged the points. The Dracs own Elite 1 players such as Robin Brochon, Romain Franco (long time touted by this website) and Corentin Le Cam also crossed the whitewash.
My feeling is that Toulouse will be a better indicator of how our season will go when we meet them this weekend, live on the clubs Youtube channel.
St-Estève XIII Catalan (6) 24
T : Flovie 2, Goffin, Dezaria
G : Brochon 4
Carcassonne (16) 28
T : Gambaro, A. Escamilla 2, Herréro, A. Albérola
G : Herréro 4
The Catalans 7 match winning run came to an end late on against another of Elite 1's big guns in Carcassonne.
After a spectacular run of wins that took them to the summit this loss saw them replaced by their vanquishers.
The play off positions look quite tight now, especially the last of the 4 slots with Avignon battling Limuox and Villeneuve.
After being in a lockdown longer than their English Superleague counterparts the Dragons are finally back in collective training ahead of their first pre-season match this weekend.
A game that due to soccer has been moved from Gilbert Brutus to USAP's Aime Giral Stadium.
Here is a video of the session and a glimpse of new training kit ! hooray!
The full 2021 fixtures have today been released.
Of course there is a full list of caveats about moving for television and global pandemia.
Can't wait now !!!
St-Estève XIII Catalan (18) 26
T : Rougé 3, Jobe
G : Brochon 5
Villeneuve (4) 16
T : Melhout (5), Tuitahi (50), Dubertrand
G : Brioux 2
A 7th win in a row sees our domestic league side leap to the top of Elite 1 playing some dynamite rugby in the process.
Credit to Villeneuve though who never let the game get away from them and played a part in another entertaining match streamed live on Youtube.
Fouad Yaha has signed a new contract with the club to keep him a Catalan until the end of 2022.
Aside from his spell in union, he has been a loyal and high performing member of the Dragons side and we are delighted to have him.
With Lewis Tierney and David Mead who either played or could fill in on the wings not longer at the club, it will be hoped Yaha can stay fit and keep his phenomenal tries to games ratio going.
More than a try every two games at the top level of the sport is exceptional and let's hope he keeps that up in 2021.
*kind of
Sir Trent Robinson of Perpignan is going to be back in France, but not as head coach of the Catalans Dragons.
Robbo is to join forces with another former Dracs supremo in Lauent Frayssinous to guide France through this autumns Rugby League World Cup.
The story broke over the weekend and this article on Love Rugby League sums all the key points up.
France has a number of really excellent players and if they can get their act together off the park could still be a factor at this world cup.
They will certainly be entertaining to watch and I can't wait to see how they go.
