By Julian Shea at Wembley

Guisset was proud of Catalans' first-half showing

Jerome Guisset believes his Catalans Dragons have every reason to go home with their pride intact after the Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens.

Saints retained the trophy with a 30-8 win, but French prop Guisset was proud of his team's performance in the biggest game in their history.

"I can't see any better advert for the club than a game like this," he said.

"Everyone gave their best, we showed our character and our will to defend our line."

Saints made sure of a successful defence of the trophy with a scoring burst either side of the half-time break.

They continuously capitalised on chances and we didn't Alex Chan

But Guisset said that, until Ade Gardner's score in the dying seconds of the first half, they were more than holding their own against the hot favourites.

"We gave them a good go, and in the first half we only deserved to be two points behind, but that try really hurt us," he said.

"In the second half Saints showed their class. We made a few crucial mistakes in our own half, they forced us to defend a lot and tired us out - at the end it was just their day."

Team-mate Alex Chan agreed that the better team had won, but also echoed Guisset's comments of support for their side.

"I don't think Gardner's try changed the match. They continuously capitalised on chances and we didn't - that was the story of the game," he said.

606: DEBATE Did Catalans do themselves proud?

"But I'm proud of the young guys, like Andrew Bentley, Vincent Duport and Cyrille Gossard.