Given Catalans Dragons’ record when it comes to winning games on the road in England, any kind of victory across the Channel will be gratefully received by them this year. They won only once in the regular season on their travels last year and, although they looked desperately close to throwing away this game against Wakefield early in the second half, they showed signs that their problematic away form could be markedly improved on.
The first of their two visits to England this season saw them come mightily close to being the first team to win at Wigan in well over a year, narrowly losing 12-6. Catalans were obviously favourites here against a Wakefield side expected to be competing at the wrong end of Super League but away victories for the men from Perpignan are never a formality.
Their team is littered with talent from both sides of the world – 15 of their 17 who played here are internationals, including four former Australian Test stars – but until they can start winning frequently in England they will never realise the top-four potential they possess.
For the first half-hour the Dragons were breathtaking and at the heart of their performance throughout was Dave Taylor. The 27-year-old arrived from the NRL with a reputation as hefty as his nickname – the former Queensland and Australia prop is called the “Coal Train” – and he looked every inch a formidable unit here.
It was no coincidence that after Taylor left the field, when the Catalans were 22-0 up, they fell apart. By the time he returned to the field midway through the second half, the game was firmly in the balance at 26-22 to the visitors. Luckily for Catalans he then gave them the necessary lift to get over the line.
“He’s a very good player,” the Catalans coach, Laurent Frayssinous, said of Taylor afterwards. “He’s brilliant with the ball, he’s improving defensively and he’s getting better as the weeks go on.”
Taylor scored twice during their win against Leeds in Perpignan last week, and although he would not cross for a try here his influence throughout was just as key. Todd Carney was equally impressive and it was his smart pass which set up the opening try for the Dragons when Carney’s ball freed Krisnan Inu who teedup the winger Jodie Broughton to break the deadlock.
At 19-and-a-half stone, Taylor’s kicking game is perhaps not the first thing one thinks of when seeing his imposing figure but it was his inventive kick through which led to Catalans’ second try, touched down by Vincent Duport. Further tries for Pat Richards and Jason Baitieri meant Catalans were going along at a point a minute before Taylor’s withdrawal but, after Glenn Stewart scored their fifth try, Wakefield’s fightback began.
Scores from Anthony Tupou and Joe Arundel made it 26-12 at the break but it was not until Reece Lyne’s score just after half-time and a brilliantly taken try from the talented young Wakefield winger Tom Johnstone that Catalans were prompted to send for the Coal Train from the bench. Within seconds he was punching holes in the Wakefield defence again, and his offload enabled the Dragons to stroll downfield and quell the fightback with Richie Myler’s try on 54 minutes.
Although Wakefield had the final say when Mickael Simon scored against his former side, two tries from Tony Gigot prior to that had secured a precious and eye-catching win on the road for the Dragons. “I heard them jokingly referred to as Catalans Kangaroos today and they looked like the Kangaroos on occasions,” said the Wakefield coach, Brian Smith. “We let ourselves down with our defence; if you give up 42 points, you’re simply never going to win a game of rugby. That was very disappointing.”
Wakefield Jones-Bishop; Lyne, Arundel, Hall, Johnstone; Miller, Finn; Scruton, Howarth, England, Molloy, Ashurst, Simon. Interchange Tupou, Arona, Sio, Anderson.
Tries Tupou, Arundel, Lyne, Johnstone, Simon. Goals Finn 4.
Catalans Gigot; Broughton, Inu, Duport, Richards; Carney, Myler; Anderson, Pelissier, Taylor, Stewart, Horo, Baitieri.
Interchange Casty, Bousquet, Bosc, Mason.
Tries Broughton, Duport, Richards, Baitieri, Stewart, Myler,
Gigot 2. Goals Richards 5.
Referee Phil Bentham. Attendance 4,442.
