Wolves wounded by Dragons

Catalan Dragons served out a warning to the rest of the Stobart Super League with a 44-16 victory over Warrington.

Steve Menzies and Setaimata Sa both touched down twice as the French club ran in eight tries to maintain their perfect record at Stade Gilbert Brutus.

However, it was the half-back pairing of Scott Dureau and Leon Pryce who really dazzled in the Perpignan sunshine, the former also kicking five goals to cap another impressive personal display.

Pryce, who gave his team an injury scare in the warm-up after banging his knee, was also a constant menace with ball in hand, though he would quickly point to the work done by a Catalan pack who simply overpowered their rivals.

Poor discipline

The Wolves paid the price for poor discipline in the first half, while the final try they conceded before the break came about due to their failure to deal with a Dureau bomb.

Back-to-back penalties put the Dragons in perfect field position to break the deadlock after four minutes, Ian Henderson's short pass putting Lopini Pea in.

On the next set the hosts showed they could score from deep too, Pryce's offload with Lee Briers in his face launching a flowing move that finished up with Thomas Bosc diving in at the left corner.

Warrington briefly responded, Mickey Higham darting over from dummy-half, but Dureau and Pryce combined to put Menzies in for his first of the day.

Chris Riley, who had earlier spilled the ball when the line appeared to be at his mercy, squeezed in at the left corner from Hodgson's floated pass to make it 16-12, and the visitors should have moved level when Chris Bridge broke free, only for the centre to put his pass in front of Joel Monaghan.

The missed chances proved costly for Tony Smith's side as Louis Anderson capitalised on the failure of both Hodgson and Monaghan to deal with a spiralling Dureau kick, with the successful conversion opening up a 10-point gap at the interval.

Strong start

The Wolves did make a strong start to the second half in a bid to mount a comeback but were unable to make the most of their period of pressure, Hodgson coming the closest when he lost the ball trying to get over.

Again the Dragons made them pay, getting a try with their first real foray into enemy territory. Dureau's faked a kick on the final tackle to get free and after passing on to Vince Duport, Sa came back on the inside to take the ball.

Daryl Millard put paid to Warrington's comeback hopes with a fine solo score, the centre getting clear from inside his own half and then rounding last-man Hodgson.

Sa and Menzies went on to cross again to give the scoreline a rather lop-sided look whilst making Les Catalan the first club to score 40 or more against the Wolves in three years.

Warrington hooker Brad Dwyer rounded out the scoring by diving over for a late consolation effort. The defeat, not helped by the loss of Richie Myler with a groin injury, means they slip below their opponents in the table.