CATALANS DRAGONS will play it cool on a night of fireworks, flares and farewells at Stade Gilbert Brutus on Friday.
The sell-out Super League semi-final against champions St Helens is set to be an explosive finale in Perpignan but coach Steve McNamara is keeping a lid on his players’ emotions as he prepares for the denouement to season 2023.
“It’s going to be a massive occasion, but it’s all about 80 minutes of Rugby League and that is what we are focusing upon,” he told League Express.
Club officials are planning an evening of passionate Catalan colour in front of Sky Sports’ TV cameras, but McNamara is all business as he plots a potential path to Old Trafford and a second shot at Grand Final glory.
Defeat at the Theatre of Dreams to St Helens in 2021 still rankles with the Dragons’ chief but he won’t let emotion get in the way of Friday night’s game, in which eight senior players will be saying farewell to French supporters.
The retirements of Sam Tomkins and Mitchell Pearce, added to the departures of six other first-teamers, is a sub-plot to the fixture but McNamara is keeping his eye on the ball.
“It’s a big night for so many reasons but it’s also a game of Rugby League and we will be ready for it,” he said.
“We earned the right to have a week off to prepare for this, we’ve had a fantastic week, really enjoyed working on things we wanted to improve upon and things you will need in semi-final football.
“Now we know who we will be playing and the second part of that preparation kicks into place, preparing specifically for St Helens.
“Every coach is in the same position; we all finish the season where you deserve to finish and the results take care of themselves. There is a lot of respect between us and St Helens and it’s going to be a great game on Friday night.
“We’ve had a great week, I can’t fault the playing group, all season they have been outstanding. Sometimes these weeks can be difficult to manage but not this time at all; the players have been superb. They understand the importance of what is in front of us and have dealt with it really well.”
McNamara feels the club is benefitting from a series of top-four finishes in recent seasons and his players now know what to expect in finals’ football.
He added: “We’ve got the experience now. In the last two years we’ve had big semi-finals here, we got one right and we got one wrong and we are approaching this one with the benefit of both experiences.”
The Dragons’ coach is monitoring the condition of scrum-half Pearce, who is nursing a hamstring strain and could miss out on Friday’s game.
If he is unavailable, Sam Tomkins would likely partner Tyrone May in the halves with Arthur Mourgue returning from a rib injury at fullback.
Other than that, and a long-running foot injury for prop Siua Taukeiaho, McNamara has a full-strength squad to pick from for Friday’s game, which is set to break the attendance record at Stade Gilbert Brutus with a sell-out 12,000 crowd anticipated.
Catalans have sold all 7,500 seats at the stadium, while reserving 250 seats for away supporters, but there are still standing tickets available and the club has urged supporters to reserve online to avoid disappointment.
Meanwhile, Les Dracs have been busy in the transfer market, having announced the signings of two NRL stars in Tariq Sims and Jayden Nikorima.
Both former Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm players, they have signed two-year contracts in Perpignan, doubling the Dragons’ recruitment for next season following the acquisition of ex-Hull FC prop Chris Satae and Huddersfield scrum-half Theo Fages.
