Potter praises his magic eight

Wildcats boss slams his side after disappointing display on home soil

Last updated: 1st July 2008

mick potter

Potter: Full of praise for his French internationals

You would have thought half my team had been playing on Friday night and not half the Catalans team

Wakefield coach John Kear
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Mick Potter felt France's heavy loss in the Gillette International against England turned out to be a blessing for Les Catalans.

The Dragons fielded no less than eight players in the one-off Test in Toulouse on Friday night that saw the home side end up getting hammered 56-8.

Just four days later and the French contingent were back in action again, helping their club side rally from an early 10-0 deficit to beat Wakefield.

The 30-14 victory at Belle Vue on Tuesday night leaves the Dragons - who have now won five in a row for the first time in Super League - well-placed in third spot in the table.

Mentality

"It's credit to the mentality of the French players to back up," said coach Potter.

"To a man they said they wanted to play regardless of injuries. I think they wanted to show they were a bit better than they were on Friday night.

"We didn't start very well and we were under the pump quite a lot in the first half. To be only four points behind at half-time was a surprising thing for us. It could have been a lot more.

"But we came up with a couple of simple plays to keep us in the game and the guys gained some energy in the second half when we got more possession."

Younes Khattabi and Casey McGuire bagged two tries apiece as the visitors scored 20 unanswered points to battle back from a sluggish start.

Back foot

Wildcats coach John Kear pulled no punches in his assessment of his team's performance, branding their second-half display as the "worst in a long time".

"You would have thought half my team had been playing on Friday night and not half the Catalans team," he said.

"We controlled the game for 30 minutes and then we were on the back foot for 50 minutes.

"It was the worst 40 minutes we've played for a long, long time and that's a concern."