MICKAËL GOUDEMAND was delighted to get one over on his former team-mates as new club Leeds defeated his old side Catalans.
The French international forward swapped the south of France for West Yorkshire in the off-season after six seasons as a Dragon.
After starting Leeds’ first two games of the season, a home win over Salford and away defeat to Hull KR, Goudemand faced Catalans for the first time on Saturday, as part of an all-French starting front row with ex-Toulouse man Justin Sangaré for the second successive game.
Despite being on the ropes for the long periods of the game, the Rhinos held out impressively in defence while counter-punching to good effect in attack for an 18-10 victory.
And the Avignon-born player said: “We deserved the win today. We worked hard for each other in the 80 minutes.
“The first half was very hard because we had to defend in all parts of the field. We had the chance to score two good tries. We kept going and going.
“To get the win in front of my family – my mum and my partner’s mum came – against my old team, it was a great day.”
Goudemand said that defence had been the main focus for Leeds in their preparations.
“This week we talked about what we could do to improve, and it was defence,” he said.
“That’s what we showed today. In Rugby League, if you have a good defence, you have more chance to win the game.”
Two wins from three represents a solid start to the campaign for Leeds after they finished a disappointing eighth place in Super League last term.
They are on the road this Friday against Challenge Cup holders Leigh and Goudemand warned: “It’s not a race, it’s a marathon. We have to keep producing what we did today.
“We are all happy, but it’s just one game. If we want to have big success in the future, we need to do it every weekend.”
