Wakefield hold off Dragons to regain second place

Betfred Super League

Catalans (6) 12

Tries: Sexton, Laguerre Goals: Aispuro-Bichet 2

Wakefield (10) 32

Tries: Trueman, Scott 2, Hamlin-Uele, Vagana 2 Goals: Sinfield 4

Isaiah Vagana's quickfire double enabled Wakefield Trinity to shake off a dogged Catalans side and reclaim second place in the table with a seventh straight Super League victory.

Wakefield squandered opportunities and were clinging to an uncertain 16-12 lead in Perpignan before Vagana crossed the line twice in the space of five minutes to snuff out the Dragons' hopes.

Early Jake Trueman and Cameron Scott tries put Trinity in command before Catalans' Toby Sexton responded, while Caleb Hamlin-Uele and Matthieu Laguerre traded scores to keep the contest in the balance going into the final quarter.

But Vagana's double gave Wakefield breathing space and Scott then sealed victory for Daryl Powell's side with his second try of the night, a stunning solo run.

The visitors dominated the early stages, moving the ball quickly and drawing first blood when Tyson Smoothy found Trueman, whose dummy left him with work still to do, but he touched down at full stretch.

Trueman then turned provider, picking out Scott with a pinpoint pass and he darted through to extend Trinity's advantage to 10 points, despite Jack Sinfield missing what looked a routine conversion.

Wakefield should have added further scores, with Josh Rourke having two tries ruled out for knock-ons and the Dragons were restricted to no more than hopeful, ineffective punts from deep in the first 25 minutes.

But the home side scored with their first meaningful attack as Sexton exchanged passes with Lewis Dodd to force his way over – and they might even have snatched the lead after Jayden Myers' fumble invited a spell of pressure.

Although Clement Martin's effort was chalked off by video referee James Vella following a knock-on, Catalans' tenacious defending in the vicinity of their goal-line kept them in the contest as they turned around just four behind.

Hamlin-Uele grabbed Wakefield's third try after the interval, leaping through a gap from close range after a storming Myers run propelled them upfield and Vagana had done the heavy lifting.

However, Catalans were back on their tails straight away as Laguerre collected Dodd's pass and swivelled under pressure on the line – with Vella overturning referee Aaron Moore's call of no try.

Vagana, denied a certain score by Martin's last-minute intervention, soon made amends as he latched onto Sinfield's short ball and then pounced for his second after Tommy Makinson spilled Trueman's kick.

Scott added his name to the scoresheet once more, with Myers releasing him to race clear from inside his own half and Catalans' night ended on a sour note when Ugo Tison's foul on Sinfield earned him a late visit to the sin-bin.

Catalans Dragons head coach John Cartwrighttold Sky Sports:

"There were definite signs of improvement. We battled a lot up to that 60-minute mark to be only four points down.

"I thought if we could just put together our best 20 minutes of football we might have challenged them, but unfortunately we made some errors.

"If we could have continued to just put them under pressure with where they got the ball we could still have got away with it, but probably forced too many passes in the end.

"You're always disappointed when there's a try or two at the end because it's probably not a real indication of the game. At 24-12 you're still in the game so that's a learning curve and you only get that through some hard lessons and experience."

Wakefield Trinity head coach Daryl Powell told Sky Sports:

"It was a tough game so we were pleased to get the win. It was challenging for different reasons – it was quite warm and the boys handled that well.

"It's always hard to come and win here, they're a different animal when you play them at their home ground so it's really pleasing.

"We created lots of opportunities and didn't quite nail a lot of them, but we're a pretty good second-half team, we've shown that all year. If we score first we generally win.

"There's a real vibe about us but we can't get too carried away, we just want to keep doing what we've been doing. All you can do is win your games and we've got another big challenge against Leeds next week that we're excited about."

Catalans: Staines, Cotric, Martin, Aispuro-Bichet, Makinson, Sexton, Dodd, Allen, Tison, Maria, Laguerre, Lipowicz, Garcia.

Interchanges: Bousquet, Condon, Leeming, Lis.

Sin-bin: Tison (79)

Wakefield: Rourke, Myers, Scott, Hall, Johnstone, Trueman, Sinfield, Rodwell, Smoothy, Vagana, Lolesio, Storton, Pitts.

Interchanges: Tevaga, Hamlin-Uele, Faatili, Smith.

Referee: Aaron Moore.