Warrington Wolves 18-24 Catalans Dragons: Visitors show heart to claim Super League victory
Matt Whitley, Arthur Romano, Mitchell Pearce and Mickael Goudemand all scored tries for the visitors, with Josh Drinkwater also kicking four conversions; Matty Ashton's try and two from Josh Charnley accounted for Warrington's scores
Last Updated: 04/03/22 10:54pm
Catalans Dragons withstood a last-gasp comeback attempt from Warrington Wolves to claim their first victory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in over a decade with a 24-18 win.
Matt Whitley's try put the Dragons into a deserved lead with barely a quarter of an hour gone, but Matty Ashton finished off a lightning attack from the hosts to ensure the sides were level 6-6 at half time.
The visitors, despite being without nine senior players and losing winger Fouad Yaha to injury just before kick-off, surged ahead after the break with tries from Arthur Romano, Mitchell Pearce and Mickael Goudemand and, although Josh Charnley grabbed two tries in the final three minutes, the Wolves suffered their first defeat of the 2022 season.
Story of the game
It was a memorable night for Catalans' Australian half-back pairing as former State of Origin star Pearce scored his first Super League try and Josh Drinkwater produced a kicking masterclass to condemn a full-strength Wolves outfit to defeat.
The Dragons scored some skilful tries, but coach Steve McNamara will be especially delighted with their committed defence, although the late concession of two tries from Charnley - who took his tally for the season so far to eight - will have irritated him.
Another off-season signing from the NRL in Tyrone May proved to be a superb third-choice full-back on his first Super League start and last-minute call-up Romain Franco overcame a sloppy opening to make a big impression.
Franco was close to touching down Drinkwater's kick to the corner and the pressure told on 13 minutes when the scrum-half's short pass got second row Whitley through a gap for the game's first try.
Team news
Warrington welcomed Gareth Widdop back into the side after missing the previous week's win over Toulouse Olympique due to illness and Oliver Holmes returned from a suspension.
Already without nine players, including Man of Steel Sam Tomkins, due to injury and suspension, the Dragons lost French international Fouad Yaha to injury in the warm-up. He was replaced on the wing by Romain Franco.
Drinkwater added the goal and the visitors were indebted to a last-ditch tackle by winger Tom Davies to prevent his opposite number Ashton finishing off a clean break from deep inside his own half.
The Catalans could not prevent Ashton scoring an equalising try on 25 minutes as he profited from a classy offload by centre Toby King, but they scrambled superbly to keep the score at 6-6 until half-time.
They then regained the lead five minutes into the second half when centre Romano, on his first appearance for 18 months after recovering from major knee surgery, pounced on an error by King to score their second try.
It got even better for McNamara's men nine minutes later when stand-off Pearce was first to reach his half-back partner's kick to register his first try for the club and Drinkwater's conversion made it 18-6.
Warrington Wolves 18-24 Catalans Dragons scoring summary
Warrington Wolves: Tries - Josh Charnley (2), Matty Ashton; Goals - Stefan Ratchford (3).
Catalans Dragons: Tries - Matt Whitley, Arthur Romano, Mitchell Pearce, Mickael Goudemand; Goals - Josh Drinkwater (4).
And there was no way back for the home side when a break from his own half by Franco created the position for forward Goudemand to re-gather his own grubber kick and score the Catalans' fourth try on 65 minutes.
Drinkwater added his fourth goal and Warrington ended the game with 12 men when substitute forward Matt Davis was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.
The Catalans were also a man down by the end with Whitley shown a yellow card for holding down Josh Charnley in the tackle and that helped the Wolves finish with a flurry as Charnley went over for two tries in two minutes, both of which Stefan Ratchford converted.
What they said
Catalans Dragons head coach Steve McNamara
"It was a very, very good victory for us. It was a super, super effort from us. We just worked really hard for each other, and we've done that for the last couple of weeks now and we've got two great away victories.
"Arthur Romano, we were all so pleased for him. If you want a player to represent your club it's him. Romain Franco was called in at the last minute, so it's outstanding for the young French players."
Warrington Wolves head coach Daryl Powell
"It was really poor. I thought Catalans turned up with a great attitude. They had a lot of people missing, but they were too good for us.
"We've got a fair job to do to turn ourselves around pretty quickly. We started to play a bit in the second half when the game had almost gone, but that's nowhere near good enough."
What's next?
Warrington now make the short trip to another of last year's Grand Finalist in reigning champions St Helens in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Friday, March 11 (8pm kick-off).
Catalans are back in action the following day when they welcome Wigan Warriors to Stade Gilbert Brutus, with that match also live on Sky Sports (5.15pm GMT).
