St Helens 28 – 8 Catalans

Tommy Makinson (2), Lewis Dodd, James Roby, and debutants Joey Lussick and Konrad Hurrell cross for tries; Fouad Yaha puts Catalans ahead, while the visitors have Dylan Napa sent off on debut and Gil Dudson sin-binned

Two tries from Tommy Makinson helped St Helens begin their quest for a fourth-straight Super League title with a 28-8 win in a fiery season opener at home to Catalans Dragons.

The game exploded into life on the first tackle as a brawl sparked up which led to Catalans having Gil Dudson sent to the sin-bin, but it was the visitors who took the lead through a try from Fouad Yaha soon after being restored to 13.

The rest of the half was all St Helens, though, as Makinson grabbed two unconverted tries, with James Roby and Lewis Dodd also going over to put the reigning champions 16-8 in front at the break in a rematch of last year’s Grand Final.

The second half saw defences on top, with Dodd’s penalty the only score for much of it, but a red card on his Dragons debut for Dylan Napa following a high shot on Mark Percival was followed by debut tries for Joey Lussick and Konrad Hurrell to add some gloss to the final score.

Story of the game

The tone for the contest was set on the very first play of the game as Dudson took exception to Joe Batchelor and Hurrell lying on too long after a tackle, which resulted in a mass confrontation and the Wales international prop being sent to the sin-bin.

However, Dudson emerged from his spell on the sidelines just in time to watch his team open the scoring as Josh Drinkwater picked out Yaha in space on the left wing with a pinpoint kick which the France international snaffled to score the first try of the season, followed by Sam Tomkins converting.

Saints clicked into gear soon after this, though, and Sione Mata’utia produced a wonderful cut-out pass for Makinson to go over for his first try, followed by centre Hurrell going on a blockbusting run and then slipping out a deft offload for skipper Roby to finish down the short side.

Half-back Dodd could not convert either try but the St Helens academy prospect showcased his immense talent on 27 minutes when he chipped over the Catalans defence and regathered for a splendid solo try.

Makinson then added his second, moving to within one try of 150 in a Saints shirt, three minutes before half-time, this time after taking Jonny Lomax’s cut-out pass. Tomkins and Dodd then exchanged penalties either side of the half as the defences started to get on top.

The visitors were mathematically still in contention heading into the final 20 minutes but their hopes disappeared altogether when rumbustious forward Napa, signed from NRL club Canterbury Bulldogs in the off-season, was given a red card for an ugly challenge on centre Percival.

Saints also finished with 12 men after loose forward Morgan Knowles was sin-binned for his reaction, but hooker Lussick’s clever burst from dummy-half and Hurrell’s one-on-one rip from Yaha allowed them to add some gloss to the score and send the vast majority of the 13,108-crowd home happy.

What they said

St Helens head coach Kristian Woolf

“I thought it was a bit of a stop-start game and that can become really frustrating. I thought at times we allowed ourselves to get a little frustrated, but once we got onto a roll – particularly before half-time – I thought we played some great footy and our defence was really, really strong.

“We probably weren’t quite as good in the second half, but we were good enough to play tough and get the win as well.”

Catalans Dragons head coach Steve McNamara

“I thought we had some good intent at times in our defence and you could see that for periods of the game, but some real lapses and really poor tackles in that last 15 minutes of the first half gave Saints field position. They made the most of it and they were too good for us.

“There were some things in there that clearly weren’t good enough to beat a Saints team on their patch. I thought our attack was awful, but defensively we managed to stay in there until that last 10 minutes when we were down to 12 men again.”

What’s next?

St Helens now travel to Hull FC, who kick off their season against Wakefield Trinity this Sunday, for a lunchtime kick-off (12.30pm) on Saturday, February 19.

In turn, Catalans welcome Trinity as the first visitors to Stade Gilbert Brutus in the 2022 season on the same day at 5pm GMT and will be aiming to make the most of home advantage.