Catalans Dragons win in wintry Wigan to maintain perfect start

Catalans Dragons have won their opening four games of a Super League season for the first time, after navigating horrendous wintry conditions to end a 12-year wait to win at Wigan Warriors and continue their unbeaten start to 2023.

The odds felt against them achieving that here on a snowy evening in Lancashire, with Catalans arriving in England without a glut of frontline stars. However, Steve McNamara’s side showed impressive resilience to inflict a second defeat in four on the Warriors, who will look back on an error-strewn performance as a missed opportunity to lay down an early-season marker of their own.

Long associated with being unable to win in England in their formative years as a club, this performance was yet another indicator that their development under McNamara in recent seasons makes them one of the leading contenders to test St Helens’ resolve on the Super League title. That they won here without the likes of England international Sam Tomkins makes this result, only their third-ever win at Wigan and first since 2011, more commendable.

In difficult conditions, it was Catalans that started the better of the two sides. And within six minutes they had broken the deadlock, as some early pressure led to Manu Ma’u forcing his way across the line from close range, with Adam Keighran converting to put the Dragons 6-0 ahead. However, Wigan responded in encouraging fashion.

They pressured the Catalans line relentlessly for the next 10 minutes but the Dragons’ defence stood firm. Wigan’s offence, however, was lacking the crispness we have come to expect in recent times, and as the half wore on, you wondered if the profligacy would come back to haunt them.

How Catalans proved that in emphatic fashion in the ten