Steve McNamara: ‘We were second best in the game.’

In Round 1 of the Betfred Super League season, Catalans Dragons travelled to Merseyside to face St Helens in the rematch of last years Grand Final but were unsuccessful once again.

On the night, the Dragons came out second best in a game where they were defeated 28-8 by the reigning champions.

Catalans had some debutants on show in the game. Dylan Napa, formally of the Sydney Roosters and Newcastle Knights and Tyrone May from Penrith Panthers were the two most noticeable ones, also Dylan Napa who McNamara nabbed from Canterbury Bankstown-Bulldogs in the NRL.

The tempo from both the game at the Magic Weekend and at Old Trafford was there for all to see. Just 16 seconds into the game, tempers flared when new St Helens signing, Konrad Hurrell flagged the referee when Gil Dudson was tugging the shirt of Saints’ Joe Batchelor on the floor.

Moments later, Dudson was shown a yellow card and sent to the sin bin, much to his disappointment.

Catalans nearly took the lead three minutes in when Fouad Yaha touched the ball down after a mishap at the back by Jack Welsby. Yaha was the scorer nine minutes later after collecting a chip-kick from Josh Drinkwater, this was the start the Dragons were looking for, after Dudson’s sin-binning.

In the 22nd minute, St Helens did what they do best and cut open the defence of the French side and levelled the scoreline with Tommy Makinson going over in the corner.

After James Roby went over for the Red V, it was a chance for new halfback, Lewis Dodd to shine as his solo effort gave Saints the lead for the first time on the night.

In the second half, Catalans fell apart and St Helens’ solid first-half performance continued. The Dragons failed to offer much in the second forty minutes apart from a red card for Napa. A shoulder charge on Mark Percival which looked worse the more you saw it.

It was a debut to forget for the prop but considering the result, Catalans have plenty of fight in their side and a lot to give this season.

Post-game, Catalans head coach Steve McNamara said:

“there was some real brutal contact out there, it was a real physical game.”

“We showed intent in defence but there were some really horrible tackles in there which gave Saints some good field position.

“Second best tonight but we move onto next week.”

In their next game, Catalans face Wakefield Trinity in their first home game in Perpignan of the 2022 campaign.

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