WARRINGTON WOLVES 18 CATALANS DRAGONS 12
STEVE BRADY, Luke Littler Stadium, Friday
WARRINGTON warmed up for their trip to Las Vegas with a hard-fought arm-wrestle which went all the way to the wire against a Catalans team still struggling to ignite their flame for 2025.
For one night only, the Luke Littler Stadium (in tribute to the world champion darts ace and huge Wire fan, who watched from the stands) stepped up to the oche and found the target with some top-flight Rugby League.
On the pitch, George Williams and Matt Dufty starred, with Williams setting up Danny Walker and Dufty scoring himself for Warrington’s two pivotal second-half tries.
Catalans had been victorious on their previous three trips to Warrington but knew that a vast improvement on their round-one home defeat against Hull FC would be needed to continue the winning run.
Tevita Satae was left behind in France suffering from a sickness bug and Warrington coach Sam Burgess chose to leave former captain Stefan Ratchford out of the starting line-up, maybe with an eye on next week’s fixture in Sin City.
The visitors accepted a gifted two points in the opening exchanges when César Rougé was taken late after a kick, Arthur Mourgue converting the penalty from in front of the posts.
The first half was an edgy stalemate between the Dragons’ forward-based muscular approach and the Wolves’ more pacy attack orchestrated by Williams and Dufty.
It took until the half-hour for the first try when a Williams high kick was fumbled over the line by Rougé and Toby King mopped up the loose ball to score. Josh Thewlis converted from wide to put his side 6-2 ahead.
Matthieu Laguerre responded with a powerful finish just before half-time, latching onto the end of a pitch-wide passing move to level the scores, too wide for Mourgue to add the touchline conversion.
Catalans restarted the brighter, forcing Warrington into a drop-out from between their posts and a short kick was gratefully snapped up although winger Tommy Makinson was instantly bundled into touch when he received the ball.
Warrington struck decisively in the 50th minute when Williams broke the line and released hooker Walker for a scamper over the line, converted again by Thewlis.
A little spice to proceedings was added by a bout of pushing and shoving involving ten players with Tevita Pangai Jr in the middle of it. It raised the temperature of the game but Catalans couldn’t capitalise from the resulting penalty.
Dufty almost put the game to bed with a terrific try in the 69th minute, running into centre Laguerre and shaking him off to score with a powerful flourish and hug celebration.
Catalans tried a Captain’s Challenge to see if there had been an an obstruction to no avail.
Thewlis added the conversion from the touchline to make it 18-6 but back came Les Dracs with a simple passing move to the left to allow Laguerre to power over for his second try with seven minutes left, Mourgue’s conversion keeping the game in the balance to the end.
The Dragons had their chances in the closing moments but two fumbles on the final pass undid some impressive approach work.
Warrington heaved a huge sigh of relief at the final hooter, a hard-fought win in the bag and seemingly no injury or disciplinary issues before their big trip to America.
GAMESTAR: George Williams oozes class every time he touches the ball and he steered Warrington to victory – just.
GAMEBREAKER: Danny Walker’s 50th-minute try following a 30-metre dash by George Williams proved decisive to Warrington’s win.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: Matt Dufty’s ferocious finish, shrugging off centre Matthieu Laguerre, and extravagant celebration, had Wire fans bouncing.
ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts George Williams (Warrington)
2 pts Matt Dufty (Warrington)
1 pt César Rougé (Catalans)
MATCHFACTS
WOLVES
1 Matt Dufty
2 Josh Thewlis
33 Arron Lindop
3 Toby King
5 Matty Ashton
6 George Williams
18 Oli Leyland
10 Paul Vaughan
9 Danny Walker
13 Luke Yates
26 Dan Russell
12 Lachlan Fitzgibbon
11 Ben Currie
Subs (all used)
8 James Harrison
15 Joe Philbin
17 Jordy Crowther
32 Sam Powell
18th man (not used)
22 Adam Holroyd
Also in 21-man squad
19 Stefan Ratchford
23 Cai Taylor-Wray
16 Zane Musgrove
Tries: King (29), Walker (50), Dufty (69)
Goals: Josh Thewlis 3/3
DRAGONS
7 Arthur Mourgue
2 Tommy Makinson
3 Arthur Romano
23 Matthieu Laguerre
5 Nick Cotric
6 Luke Keary
18 César Rougé
8 Tevita Pangai Jr
9 Ben Garcia
10 Julian Bousquet
17 Bayley Sironen
12 Elliott Whitehead
13 Oliver Partington
Subs (all used)
14 Alrix Da Costa
20 Jordan Dezaria
19 Paul Séguier
11 Tariq Sims
18th man (not used)
22 Fouad Yaha
Also in 21-man squad
15 Tevita Satae
24 Franck Maria
28 Clément Martin
Tries: Laguerre (38, 63)
Goals: Mourgue 2/3
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-2, 6-2, 6-6; 12-6, 18-9, 18-12
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Wolves: George Williams; Dragons: César Rougé
Penalty count: 5-6
Half-time: 6-6
Referee: Liam Rush
Attendance: 11,157