Dragons release Israel Folau with immediate effect

 Its over. And breath. 

Folau deal mooted

 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...

1. Bernard - please learn from this and stop trying to rehome ex NRL tearaways. 
2. Folau - Bye. 

Sell off hints at end of O'Neills deal for Dragons

 

Over the weekend Catalans Dragons started a fire sale of current kit in their own online store. 

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 ? 

Will Leeds ever see France again?

 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. 

Bird flies south

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 30-36 Catalans Dragons

 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 Dragons kept their spot at the top of Super League despite some errors and mistakes in the match at Leigh. 

A couple of interception tries and a late splurge of points for the hosts gave made this a nervy end to a match that with 20 minutes to go looked won. 

Josh Drinkwater kept his recent run going with a try against him former club but we trailed at the break. 

The game looked to be over when Arthur Mourgue danced through the Leigh defence with a wonderful try, but credit to the home side for getting right back in the game. 

It's a scrappy win but who cares? The points are more important than the performance and we now have time on the training pitch to tighten up. 

Lezignan 26-18 St Esteve

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

Tomkins banned after sticking up for his brother

 ...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 

St Esteve 43-24 Villeneuve

 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. 

Catalans Dragons 48-0 Wigan Warriors

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.