CATALANS DRAGONS overcame a stubborn Wakefield Trinity in a hard-hitting, entertaining Super League encounter at Belle Vue, running out 38-24 winners.
Wakefield broke the deadlock in the tenth minute, Max Jowitt being sent through a huge gap by Mason Lino – much to the joy of the Trinity fans. Lino converted to make it 6-0.
Catalans hit back with two tries in two minutes just after the midway point of the first-half. First, Matthieu Laguerre dotted down off a Tom Davies pat back before Adam Keighran slotted through a pinpoint grubber for Tom Johnstone against his former side.
Keighran converted the latter but missed the former with the Dragons holding a 10-6 lead.
Not to be outdone, substitute Corey Hall crashed over off a short Morgan Smith pass on 28 minutes as Lino’s conversion sent Trinity 12-10 up.
The topsy-turvy nature of the fixture continued and Johnstone was next on the scoresheet, rising highest to claim a towering Cesar Rouge kick with five minutes to go in the first-half despite passionate claims of a knock-on from Wakefield fans.
Keighran converted to make it 16-12 at half-time.
Catalans hit a bitter blow four minutes after the break, with Johnstone grabbing his hat-trick off a wonderful Arthur Mourgie pass. Keighran couldn’t convert, but the Dragons now led 20-12.
Trinity did hit back quickly, though, taking advantage of a Johnstone error with Lino serving it up on a platter for Matty Ashurst to cross. Lino’s conversion brought the hosts back to within two at 20-18.
Wakefield kept making basic errors, though, and after inviting a spell of pressure, they cracked with 15 minutes to go.
Laguerre managed to find a suspect-looking pass to his winger Tom Davies, but, the latter’s pick-up was magical. And with Keighran’s conversion, the Dragons now held an eight-point lead.
That eight-point lead became 14 five minutes later when Davies dotted down a Mourgue kick, but Wakefield replied instantly through Lee Gaskell. Lino’s conversion brought Trinity back to within eight at 32-24.
And there was just enough time for Cesar Rouge to intercept from 30 metres out to round off the scoring at 38-24.
Wakefield Trinity
1 Max Jowitt
5 Tom Lineham
4 Reece Lyne
21 Samisoni Langi
23 Lewis Murphy
6 Lee Gaskell
7 Mason Lino
10 Jai Whitbread
20 Morgan Smith
17 Renouf Atoni
13 Jay Pitts
11 Matty Ashurst
19 Kevin Proctor
Substitutes
3 Corey Hall
8 Eddie Battye
15 Liam Kay
22 Rob Butler
Tries: Jowitt, Hall, Ashurst, Gaskell
Goals: Lino 4/4
Catalans Dragons
1 Arthur Mourgue
2 Tom Davies
11 Matt Whitley
4 Matthieu Laguerre
24 Tom Johnstone
17 Cesar Rouge
3 Adam Keighran
16 Romain Navarrete
9 Michael McIlorum
10 Julian Bousquet
12 Paul Seguier
26 Manu Ma’u
13 Benjamin Garcia
Substitutes
15 Mickael Goudemand
23 Jordan Dezaria
18 Tiaki Chan
31 Tanguy Zenon
Tries: Laguerre, Johnstone 3, Davies 2, Rouge
Goals: Keighran 5/7
