Pictures Eddie Whitham
DARYL Powell tasted his first defeat as Warrington Wolves coach as they lost 18-24 at home to Catalans in front of the Sky Sports Cameras.
Prior to kick off the Wolves had the boost of announcing a new five-year sponsorship deal with long-term stadium sponsors Halliwell Jones, which will take the partnership to 23 years!
Despite the boost, the Dragons, missing Man of Steel Sam Tomkins and hooker Michael McIlorum amongst others, secured their first win at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in more than a decade.
Two late tries from leading try scorer Josh Charnley were in vain after the French side had opened up a 24-6 lead that proved too much to come back from.
Matt Whitley put the Dragons in front on 15 minutes but the Wolves hit back 10 minutes later.
Toby King broke away on the left-hand side and although full-back Tyrone May got hold of the centre, he managed to twist around and offload for Matty Ashton to score in the corner.
The score remained at 6-6 at half time.
An opportunist try put Catalans back in front. Mitchell Pearce’s high kick was spilled under pressure by Josh Drinkwater, and young winger Arthur Romano hacked the ball on and then managed to evade two defenders, pick the ball up and ground.
Then the two half-backs linked up again as Drinkwater dabbed a neat left-foot kick through for Pearce to slide over.
The game breaker came on 65 minutes, when at one end, Rob Mulhern burst through and his offload went to ground.
Catalans gathered and Romano was sent away down the left. Although he was caught metres short of the line by Josh Charnley, a few plays later Catalans were over.
The try came in slightly fortuitous circumstances, as forward Mickael Goudemand opted to grubber through himself with no support, and it ricocheted between him a defender a couple of times before he pounced on the loose ball and momentum took the point of the ball over the whitewash.
That left the Wolves with a mountain to climb, and though a late Charnley brace got them within a score, they barely had two plays before the hooter to try and force golden point extra time and fell to defeat.
After the match Head Coach Daryl Powell described the performance as disappointing and poor, saying the defeat had becoming, despite three wins on the bounce prior to the game.
Warrington: Ratchford, Charnley, Mata’utia, King, Ashton, Widdop, Williams, Bullock, Walker, Cooper, Currie, Holmes. Subs: D Clark, Philbin, Davis, Mulhern.
Catalans: May, Yaha, Langi, Romano, Davies, Pearce, Drinkwater, Dezaria, Da Costa, McMeeken, Whitley, Jullien, Garcia. Subs: Seguier, Goudemand, Rouge, Kasiano.
🚨 JUST ANNOUNCED!
The club have renewed our official stadium sponsorship with @HALLIWELLJONES for a further five years taking the partnership to 23 seasons! 🙌
Full story 👉 https://t.co/C7HENGhK3d pic.twitter.com/5IWyta5vSE
— Warrington Wolves (@WarringtonRLFC) March 4, 2022
Toby King making things happen 🔥@WarringtonRLFC level live on @SkySportsRL#SuperLeague #SLWarCat pic.twitter.com/9O8994PwSr
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) March 4, 2022
“IT’S NOT OVER YET!” ⏳
Can the Warrington Wolves complete a DRAMATIC comeback? Catalans lead 24-16 with not long to go! pic.twitter.com/aqrdhbgJlE
— Sky Sports Rugby League (@SkySportsRL) March 4, 2022
