TABLE topping Warrington Wolves were brought back down to earth with a bump with a shock home defeat by lowly Catalan Dragons.
The French outfit ripped up the form book and proved to be worthy winners against a Warrington side which looked a shadow of the team which won at Champions Wigan last weekend. It took Wolves eight minutes to get off the mark as Catalan were undone by a Garreth Carvell offload as Lee Briers, Brett Hodgson and Chris Bridge combined and to Joel Monaghan over although Hodgson could not add the extras with a difficult conversion from the touchline.
But the Dragons were back on level terms with their first attack of the game.
David Ferriol found Sebastien Raguin and he cleverly fed Cyril Stacul who went over by the left corner to level the scores after 16 minutes.
David Solomona created Warrington’s second try on 27 minutes as the ball was sent via Richie Myler, Briers and Monaghan who off loaded to send his brother over for his second try. Hodgson converted from wide out to make it 10-4.
The Dragons were back on level terms then equalised for a second time as yougster Rhys Evans knocked on in the process of being tackled allowing Frederic Vaccari to scoop up the loose ball and race 60-metres down the middle to score. Scott Dureau added the extras to make it 10-10 at the break.
Warrington got off to the best possible star in the second half as Briers and Evans combined to send Riley in at the corner to make it 14-10. Hodgson was wide with the difficult conversion attempt.
But back came the Dragons as Morley was penalised allowing Ferriol to take advantage to score by the sticks allowing Dureau to add the extras to make it 14-16 to the visitors.
Back came Warrington as Richie Myler side stepped his way over the line with Hodgson adding the extras to make it 20-16.
But minutes later Myler gave away an interception as Scott Dureau raced 60 metres to score, converting his own effort to fire the Dragons into a lead they never lost, as the Wolves were guilty of far too many handling errors and a poor completion rate, despite a massive penalty count in their favour. While Head Coach Tony Smith has made no secret of his dislike of the two pointers, they could have spared the Wolves at least a point, if any one of the 17 penalties had been taken instead of opting for the power plays.
Dureau left the field on a stretcher after taking a high shot from Garreth Carvell, who could now find himself facing disciplinary action.
Meanwhil e Warrington missed the two Bens, Harrison and Westwood, who were rested for the game, while play maker Michael Monaghan didn’t return for the second half after picking up an injury.
But the Dragons also had to over come the loss of their star full-back Clint Greenshields who left the pitch after just five minutes with a badly dislocated elbow.
Pictures show Chris Riley going in for the Wolves and Garreth Carvell taking on the Dragons defence.
For more pictures from the match CLICK HERE
Wolves: Brett Hodgson, Joel Monaghan, Chris Bridge, Rhys Evans, Chris Riley, Lee Briers, Richie Myler, Adrian Morley, Michael Monaghan, Garreth Carvell, Simon Grix, Matty Blythe, Jon Clarke.
Subs: Paul Wood, Mickey Higham, David Solomona, Mike Cooper.
Dragons: Clint Greenshields, Frederic Vaccari, Jean-Philippe Baile, Daryl Millard, Cyril Stacul, Ben Farrar, Scott Dureau; David Ferriol, Ian Henderson, Remi Casty, Steve Menzies, Sebastien Raguin, Greg Mounis.
Subs: Michael Simon, Sebastien Martins, Jason Baitieri, Eloi Peilssier.
ATTEN: 10,056
