2023-08-19 09:38:52
Who, in England, wants the skin of the Catalans Dragons? Everyone gone! Mean by that all the teams of the Superleague of Rugby League this season: the leaders, the players, the supporters, the bookmakers since the Perpignan team took control of the regular season after a thunderous start to the campaign. with four entry wins.
Today, six games from the end of the regular season, President Bernard Guasch’s men are firmly at the “ceiling” of the standings, with four points ahead of the two teams from the suburbs of Manchester, the Wigan Warriors and Leigh’s Leopards. “The next two games are crucial for us. We move to Leigh this Saturday August 19th and we receive Wigan on August 26th. If we win these two clashes at the top of the table, we will be out of reach. We will finish first in the regular season, a kind of consecration, ”analyzes Frenchman Benjamin Garcia, experienced captain of the Dragons.
The Provençal player, trained in Apt then in Avignon, played for two periods in the very tough Australian championship, before returning to Catalan lands under the leadership of English coach Steve Mc Namara, who took over the reins of the team in June 2017 to drive it to the top of the bill. “Every day we have the feeling of moving forward, of progressing. Individually but also collectively at group level. And when the holders are not on the score sheet it is the substitutes, sometimes with little playing time, who deliver a perfect score. This is for example the case of Aldrix Da Costa author of a very high level performance over 80 minutes in Warrington (Cheshire, England) during the last match, ”continues Benjamin Garcia.
To be honest, during this trip to the Wolves (Wolves), on August 4, five holders were missing in the Catalan ranks. But Warrington’s pressure cooker very quickly exploded in flight in front of his own audience. 42-0 final score. “For us the goal is simple: finish first in the regular season to win the small honorary shield. We had already done it in 2021 but in a season atrophied by the Covid with a lot of canceled matches. There, in 2023, it’s a real regular season, ”underlines Benjamin Garcia again.
If the Dragons persist, it’s not just to win the regular season. It is that this place, and that of second, open the direct door to the semi-final with reception at home of one of the play-offs. “And the first two benefit from a weekend of rest while the play-offs decide in very committed matches, of course”, explains Benjamin Garcia. In other words, it’s the best way to organize his trip to Old Trafford in Manchester for the absolute Holy Grail, the Superleague final lost in 2021.
A thousand British supporters at the Brutus stadium
In this 2023 season, the performances, the quality of play of the Dragons, their panache on the lawn have not escaped anyone and certainly not the Catalan supporters, overheated by the scores achieved at the expense of their British visitors who leave the Catalan country with full suitcases of points collected. “English fans have resumed their travel habits for matches before the Covid period. We are once again reaching the bar of a thousand British, English or Welsh supporters for certain matches,” explains Yannick Rey, the Dragons’ communications director.
A thousand Brits on a para-sporting holiday means hotel nights, countless pints of beer to serve before and after the match and quite a few excursions to La Jonquera for shopping or to the coast for festive moments. The passionate Catalan supporters are not left out. “We are sold out at every game. And we have 4500 subscribers. We feel that the fervor is rising around the team, ”continues Yannick Rey.
The great adventure of the Dragons took off in 2000, thanks to the inspiration of a man, Bernard Guasch, a former talented rugby league player. A visionary for the family butchery business, he is also a visionary for his sporting passion. It achieves the merger of two flagship clubs of the purring French championship: the Catalan XIII and Pia. Twenty-three later, “step by step” (one step after another), as the English say, here are the Dragons installed at the very top, exactly in the viewfinder of the Superleague clubs. The Leopards (Leigh), the Warriors (Wigan) the Wolves (Warrington) or even the Tigers (Castelford) are warned. The Dragons, practically untouchable this year, will sell their skin very dearly on the legendary road to Old Trafford.
Catalan Dragons v Leopard de Leigh at Leigh, August 19 at 7 p.m.
Dragons Catalans against Wigan Warriors, August 26 at the Gilbert Brutus stadium in Perpignan, at 7 p.m.
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