Super League: Catalan Dragons claim comeback win over Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Peter Fox: the winger crossed early on for Wakefield

Damien Blanch: crucial late try for Catalan

Catalan battled back to claim a 29-22 victory over Wakefield as the Wildcats once again came up just short against one of the Super League's big guns.

Just six days after they lost 18-16 to table-toppers Huddersfield, Wakefield were once again ruing what might have been - albeit with a much longer trip home in which to dwell on their misfortunes.

The visitors led 16-0 and even after Catalan levelled at 16-16, they went back in front through Lee Smith's try only to again surrender the lead.

It all looked so different early on as Frankie Mariano broke through and laid on a score for Richard Mathers. Then after Damien Blanch knocked on, Paul Sykes picked the ball up to feed Dean Collis, who duly put in Peter Fox for a quickfire second.

Coach Richard Agar, who took the France job on a part-time basis a fortnight ago, watched his side add to their lead on the 20-minute mark, with Collis going in after an Ali Lauitiiti break.

That signalled the start of a Catalan fightback, though, and Mathias Pala was the first over, with Gregory Mounis then doing the same after Kyle Amor gave away a cheap penalty.

Near misses

Two Thomas Bosc goals left it 12-16 at the break and both sides had near misses after the restart, with Blanch pushed in touch by Fox and Mathers deemed offside when grounding what would have been a second.

Blanch found the room to squeeze in for a legitimate score, though, with Bosc's failure to convert leaving the scores level, with Vincent Duport then having one ruled out for a knock-on after a Bosc kick caused havoc.

Wakefield's response was a clinical one, with Danny Washbrook breaking, Smith scoring and Sykes converting.

But Catalan sensed another comeback and Blanch got in at the cornerflag despite the attentions of Ben Cockayne, with Bosc levelling from wide out.

Bosc then split the posts with a drop-goal from 30 metres and although he missed a simple penalty, it mattered little as Jason Batieri rumbled over in the dying seconds.

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