Round 5: Wildcats 30-10 Catalans Dragons
engage Super League XIV- Round 5
Wakefield Wildcats 30-10 Catalans Dragons
Belle Vue Stadium
Attendance: 4,807
The Wildcats maintained their unbeaten record at Belle Vue in 2009 with a five-try win against Catalans Dragons.
Sean Gleeson, Tony Martin, Damien Blanch, Ryan Atkins and Aaron Murphy all crossed the whitewash for Wakefield whilst all the Catalans points came in the first period through tries for Jean-Philippe Baile and Dimitri Pelo.
There were returns to the starting thirteen for Murphy, Tevita Leo-Latu and Danny Brough after injury whilst Martin added four goals to his try to finish up with 12 points.
Just as the Wildcats were hit by the late withdrawal of a centre at Hull KR last week, the Dragons plans were affected by Adam Mogg injuring a hamstring in the warm-up, meaning Baile stepped up from the subs bench.
The game sparked into life on eight minutes when Dale Ferguson- with three tries in his previous two games- made the initial break through the Catalans defence. From the resultant play of the ball the Wildcats worked it wide through Jason Demetriou, the returning Brough and into the hands of Gleeson who went over in the right hand corner.
The visitors were offering little in terms of an attacking threat in the early stages with Thomas Bosc’s kick easily fielded by Brough as the only moment of any note in the first 20 minutes for the French side.
After another of the Wildcats returning injured players in Leo-Latu was tackled short of the line on thirteen minutes; Steve Snitch then intercepted a pass on the left hand side and offloaded to Martin who raced 35 metres to touch down. He converted his own score from the touchline.
Wakefield were very much in the ascendency at this point when the excellent Demetriou and Ferguson combined again to create another hole in the visitor’s defence. The attack petered out though after Brough’s chip went dead.
If the first quarter belonged to Wakefield, then the Dragons showed why they did so well last season by getting themselves back into the game in the second quarter. After forcing a couple of goal-line drop outs the ball was worked through the hands of Bosc to Baile who went over in the corner.
Now Kevin Walters’ side were an attacking threat and Steven Bell was held up in the right hand corner as the Wildcats defence stood firm.
Danny Sculthorpe was just short of the line on 32 minutes but it was the Perpignan based side finishing the half the strongest, and Greg Bird, surprisingly returning from Australia in time for the game, offloaded excellently and it led to a second Dragons try through Pelo.
Bosc failed with his conversion and the sides went down the tunnel at half-time with the Wildcats holding a slender 12-10 lead.
It was a strong start to the second stanza from John Kear’s men as they looked to extend their advantage, and they did on 48 minutes when Blanch gathered a loose pass and showed fantastic strength, pace and footwork to evade a number of Catalans tacklers to reach over in the corner.
The French side’s poor discipline was keeping the Wildcats on the front foot and Kear’s men took full advantage on 56 minutes when Matt Blaymire’s well timed pass was matched by an equally well timed run from Atkins who burst through a hole in the defence to add to the points tally.
It was a tally that the 23-year old nearly added to himself minutes later but in trying to stretch for the line he knocked on.
Martin didn’t punish the Dragons when dissent gave him a penalty within range, but twice in the last ten minutes he found his accuracy to put the game beyond doubt.
And with the seconds running down on the clock, Bell knocked on under pressure from Atkins and Murphy capped his comeback with a score, whilst Brough converted to get his name on the scoreboard as the hooter sounded.
Wakefield: Blaymire, Blanch, Gleeson, Atkins, Murphy, Martin, Brough, Wilkes, Leo-Latu, Bibey, Snitch, Ferguson, Demetriou, Sculthorpe. Replacements: Bibb, Henderson, Sculthorpe, Pitts.
Catalans Dragons: Greenshields, Stacul, Baile, Bell, Pelo, Bosc, Perry, Ferriol, McGuire, Elima, Gossard, Mounis, Fakir. Replacements: Guisset, Casty, Bird, Touxagas.
Referee: J Child
Scorers
Wildcats: Tries: Gleeson, Martin, Blanch, Atkins, Murphy
Goals: Martin (4) Brough
Dragons: Tries: Baile, Pelo
Goals: Bosc
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