Dragons to seek redemption at Wakefield

Catalans Dragons aren’t pressing the panic button following their first defeat of the season.

Coach Steve McNamara was disappointed with his side’s 8-24 loss at home to Warrington on Saturday night, but he stressed that there would be no “over-reaction” to the result at Stade Gilbert Brutus.

He told League Express: “We are all frustrated and disappointed at not getting the win and not playing as smoothly as we have done.

“But just like we didn’t over-react to our recent wins, we won’t over-react to tonight’s loss.

“The effort was there, the intent from the team, we were just a little off the mark and weren’t good enough to get the win in the end.”

Catalans went ahead early in the game, but could only manage to score one try against Warrington’s four, despite having long periods of possession and pressure on the Wolves’ defensive line.

McNamara added, “It was a really tough game, and the tries were all scored from errors or intercepts, which are difficult to handle; not a lot of points were scored from structured play.

“We conceded 24 points, but they were strange points. I think both teams will be happy with the way they defended. We had one try where Daryl Clark splits us through the middle, but other than that we weren’t broken on too many plays.

“And on the other side we did look like we were going to break Warrington at times, but we just missed certain opportunities, in the first half on the left edge and through the middle at the start of the second half.

“The simple thing is we were a bit off the mark; sometimes the decisions go with you and then go against you, you just have to get on with it.

“It was 18-8, we were battling away but we conceded late in the game to make it 24-8 and that’s what happens in Rugby League if you’re not quite on it.

“We’ve been on the right side of this kind of result recently, but not tonight, so we just have to acknowledge that and work on it.”

Catalans were four wins from four in League and Cup before the Warrington defeat and McNamara is keen to get back to winning ways, starting with Friday’s fixture against Wakefield Trinity.

“We want to get out there next week and put on a better performance against Wakefield.”

McNamara reported no serious injury concerns from the Warrington defeat and he will have second-row forward Joel Tomkins available for selection for Friday’s match after the completion of his recent suspension.

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